COMMERCE, Texas – In a game that was dominated by defense all night, the 12th –seeded Texas A&M-Kingsville men's basketball team took a six-point lead with less than five minutes left and held on for 49-46 victory over the fifth-seeded Texas A&M-Commerce Lions in the first round of the Lone Star Conference at the Field House in Commerce, Texas on Tuesday night.
"Tonight was all about determination and toughness," said coach Johnny Estelle. "I could not be more proud of these young men. They competed as one all night and demonstrated Javelina pride and spirit collectively."
TAMUK's leading scorer was freshman Marcus Jones (Cheneyville, La.), who totaled 11 points while also logging a team-high five rebounds, two assists and two steals. Junior Creighton Avery (Corpus Christi, Texas) added 10 points with three assists and sophomore Jake Majors (Corpus Christi, Texas) shot 4-of-6 from the field for nine points.
"It was an ugly game shooting-wise," said Estelle, "but from a competitive perspective, it was intense in a hostile environment. Coach Gonzalez did an outstanding job with the scouting report and coach Thomas was instrumental on the bench during the game. I would like to give our fans a very special thank you as well. Their support was inspirational on many levels."
The Lions jumped out to a 10-2 lead on the strength of a couple early three-pointers, but TAMUK responded by scoring nine of the game's next 10 points, a run capped by a trey from Jones and a Sammy Brooks (Dallas, Texas) layup. When TAMUC went back up by three, the Hogs responded with a 7-0 burst that included another Jones triple and made the score 18-14.
That lead was erased by the Lions and the teams spent the rest of the half exchanging scores, but the final bucket of the period came from Jones, who connected from the beyond the arc again for a 28-27 Javelina edge at halftime.
The second half started with back-to-back Lion threes, but the Javs came back with seven straight points, the last five coming from Majors to make the score 38-35.
After TAMUC cut their deficit to one, the sides went nearly four minutes without scoring before two TAMUK free throws and a Lion triple evened the score at 40. The next two baskets were Javelina treys from Avery and junior Jordan Wilson (Blytheville, Ark.) that gave the Hogs the lead for the last time.
That six-point advantage was trimmed to one at 47-46 with under a minute left and the Lions gained possession with 33 seconds remaining. After running the clock down to five, TAMUC appeared to have taken the lead on a goaltending call, but, upon review, the decision was reversed. Avery then stole the ball from the Lions on an inbound play, made two free throws and the home team's attempt to tie at the buzzer missed the mark, sending TAMUK through to the LSC Quarterfinals.
"TAMUC is a well-coached team with talent and is regionally ranked," said Estelle. "For us to get this win under these circumstances, I cannot say anything but 'Thank you God.' I am so proud to be the Javelina men's basketball coach and mentor these winners every day."
The Javelinas will now travel to Frisco, Texas for the LSC Tournament Quarterfinals, where they'll face the St. Mary's Rattlers on Thursday at 8:30 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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