KINGSVILLE, Texas – Junior Jordan Wilson (Blytheville, Ark.) set a season-high with 14 points and the Texas A&M-Kingsville men's basketball team fought furiously to erase a 15-point deficit, but suffered a narrow, 78-74 loss to the St. Edward's Hilltoppers on Thursday night in Lone Star Conference action at the Steinke Physical Education Center in Kingsville, Texas.
The Javelinas record falls to 10-7 overall and 1-5 in the LSC. SEU 11-10 on the season and 5-6 in 2021-22.
"I thought our kids fought," said coach Johnny Estelle. "They played hard. St. Ed's is very good team and it's always a rivalry game for us. Coach Cook does a really good job with his offensive schemes, which challenges our defense at times. Give them credit, their back was against the wall, but I couldn't be any more proud of our guys. They battled and played hard, we just didn't come out on the right end."
Wilson's 14 points came on 5-of-9 shooting and he also pulled down four rebounds. Sophomore C.J. Smith (Mansfield, Texas) contributed 12 points and three assists while senior Dayante McClellan (Austin, Texas) snagged 11 rebounds.
The game's first five points belonged to the Javelinas and triples by Wilson, Tre Flowers (Bryan, Texas) and Creighton Avery (Corpus Christi, Texas) later helped the Hogs build an 18-8 lead, but SEU took control soon after.
Over a stretch of a little more than seven minutes, the visitors outscored their hosts 24-7, giving them a 32-25 lead with less than five minutes to play in the half. The Hilltoppers advantage later reached 10 points and they held a 41-31 edge at halftime.
In the second period SEU pushed their lead to as many as 15, but TAMUK fought back with a 12-2 run that made the score 54-49 with more than 11 minutes on the clock. The HIlltoppers responded swiftly, however, with back-to-back buckets that widened the difference to nine. Three times after that, the Javs got within four or five points, but couldn't solve the riddle of how to make it a one possession game.
With under a minute to play, baskets by McClellan and Flowers, missed free throws by SEU and a Smith three-point play sliced SEU's lead to two . One free throw by the Hilltoppers put the margin a three with under 10 seconds remaining, but the potential game-tying three from Smith narrowly missed the mark and TAMUK's last gasp came up just short.
The Javelinas next chance comes on Saturday, when they'll play at the SPEC against St. Mary's. 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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