KINGSVILLE, Texas – Junior Creighton Avery (Corpus Christi, Texas) went off for a career-high 32 points and helped carry the No. 14 Texas A&M-Kingsville men's basketball team to a 73-65 victory over the Angelo State Rams in the first round of the 2021 Lone Star Conference Tournament on Tuesday night at the Steinke Physical Education Center in Kingsville, Texas.
Avery's 32 points are the most by any Javelina player since Johnny Estelle took over as head coach in 2014. They also represent the highest point total for a Javelina since Robert Williams had 35 on Jan. 23rd, 2012. For Avery, it's the fourth time in 2020-21 he's reset his career-high.
"He's amazing," said Estelle. "He's an awesome young man. He's who you want on your team making decisions. I'm just so happy because he's a very special young man."
Avery's 32 points came on 11-of-19 shooting and he also tied for a team-high with three assists and two steals. Senior Tre Flowers (Bryan, Texas) was TAMUK's second leading scorer with 11 points and junior Will Chayer (Corpus Christi, Texas) pulled in nine rebounds, contributing to a 40-31 advantage for his team in that statistic.
The momentum swung back-and-forth more than once in the first half. Avery contributed 12 points in the first 12 minutes and change to help his team build leads of 10-4 and 20-13, but ASU answered with a 13-2 run to move ahead, 26-22. The Hogs came back to knot things at 30 before halftime.
Most of the early parts of the second half were spent with the teams exchanging baskets before a Derek Luna (Palmview, Texas) layup and an Avery jumper sparked an 11-0 Javelina run. After the visitors responded by whittling a 48-38 margin down to one point, TAMUK came back with eight straight points for a 60-51 advantage with 5:44 on the clock.
The Rams rallied again and got as close as three points before the Javelinas used free throws and a clutch Flowers triple to push their edge back to nine at 68-59. One more ASU push cut their deficit to five, but three more Avery foul shots put the finishing touches on another TAMUK triumph.
The Javelinas next stop is Canyon, Texas, where they'll play the St. Edward's Hilltoppers on Friday at 6:45 p.m. for the right to advance to the LSC Tournament Final. Fans can keep up with Javelina men's basketball throughout the season by following @JavelinaMBB on Twitter and Instagram, liking Texas A&M University-Kingsville Men's Basketball on Facebook, subscribing to the Javelina Athletics YouTube channel and visiting Javelinaathletics.com. Watch your Javelinas live today on the Javelina Sports Network sponsored by Mendoza's Pharmacy.
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