KINGSVILLE, Texas – Senior Xaiver Armstead (Waco, Texas), junior Will Chayer (Corpus Christi, Texas) and sophomore Jake Majors (Corpus Christi, Texas) all scored in double figures, but the Texas A&M-Kingsville men's basketball team endured a 65-61 defeat at the hands of the Texas A&M International Dustdevils in Lone Star Conference action at the Steinke Physical Education Center in Kingsville, Texas on Saturday evening.
This defeat snaps a three-game Javelina win streak and puts the team at 8-3 overall and 0-1 in the LSC. The Dustdevils are 10-2 overall and 2-0 in conference.
Armstead, Chayer and Majors each tallied 11 points, which stands as a season-high for all three, and Armstead led all players with nine rebounds. Sophomore C.J. Smith (Mansfield, Texas) contributed three assists.
Neither team held a lead larger than six points in a first half that also included six ties. The largest lead of the half was taken by the Dustdevils with 3:29 to go when a Tre Thomas jumper made the score 24-18. TAMUK's response was to go on an 8-0 run that included two buckets by Armstead and put the home team up a pair late in the period, but a four-point play by TAMIU allowed the visitors take a 28-26 lead into halftime.
Two scores by Chayer got the second half started, then the teams spent most of the next several minutes trading buckets. Another layup by Chayer and a Majors jumper staked the Hogs to a 40-37 lead with 14 minutes remaining, but the Dustdevils again fought back to tie the score.
With 12:25 on the clock, a Sammy Brooks (Dallas, Texas) basket tied the score at 43, but TAMIU soon took off on an 11-0 run that gave them the lead for good. The Javs put together a furious comeback attempt in the final minute, slicing a deficit that grew as large as 13 down to four in the final moments, but the Hogs eventually ran out of time.
The Javelinas will have a chance to exact revenge on the Dustdevils on Monday, when they travel to Laredo for a matchup starting at 6 p.m. 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.
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