LUBBOCK, Texas – The Texas A&M-Kingsville men's basketball team put together a spectacular run in the Lone Star Conference Tournament to earn a spot in the NCAA South Central Regional Tournament, but the Javelinas could not recapture that same magic in the national postseason, dropping a 69-55 decision to the Colorado Mesa Mavericks in the first round on Saturday evening at the Rip Griffin Center in Lubbock, Texas.
"We didn't play our best game tonight," said coach Johnny Estelle, "but these kids have been through a lot. We were on the road for 12 days straight, then going through the gauntlet we had to go through to get here was pretty tough, but these young men are special. They'll always be special to me because of their fight and spirit and the commitment they showed. Tonight isn't reflective of who we are and what we've accomplished this year."
This puts the Javelinas' final record at 18-11 in 2021-22. Over the past three seasons, the Hogs own a 54-23, giving them a .701 win percentage. That mark represents the best win percentage over any three-year stretch in program history.
Junior Sammy Brooks (Dallas, Texas) finished the night as TAMUK's leading scorer with 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the floor. Senior Dayante McClellan (Austin, Texas) hauled in a team-high four rebounds while junior Creighton Avery (Corpus Christi, Texas) passed out four assists.
The Javelinas got out of the gates quickly, taking an early 14-5 lead with a run that included eight straight points from Brooks.
TAMUK led 20-12 moments later, but that's when the Mavericks found the momentum, scoring 13 of the next 15 points to jump ahead by three with less than seven minutes remaining in the half. CMU held on to that momentum for the rest of the period, reaching halftime ahead, 29-26.
Back-to-back buckets early in the second allowed the Javs to pull even with the Mavericks at 30, but CMU responded with eight straight points. The momentum soon swung back to TAMUK, however, as they outscored their opponents 14-7 over the following five minutes to creep within one at 45-44.
Unfortunately for the Javs, they couldn't find the score they needed to move in front. A 14-0 burst from the Mavericks put them up by 15 with less than four minutes to go and that deficit proved too great to overcome.
Fans can keep up with Javelina men's basketball all year long 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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