FRISCO, Texas – Freshman Marcus Jones (Cheneyville, La.) set a career-high with 19 points, junior Jordan Wilson (Blytheville, Ark.) added 13 and the 12th-seeded Texas A&M-Kingsville men's basketball team punched its ticket to the Lone Star Conference Tournament semifinals with a 70-64 victory over the fourth-seeded St. Mary's Rattlers on Thursday night at the Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas.
"It's hard to beat somebody three times," said coach Johnny Estelle, "especially a team as talented and well-coached as that team. To God be the glory and I'm so grateful for these guys. They could've quit when the momentum changed, but they hit some big shots and got some stops."
Jones' 19 points bests his previous career-high of 17, which he set less than a month ago. Those points came on 7-of-10 shooting, including 4-of-6 on three-pointers and Jones also doled out three assists. Wilson was 5-of-8 from the floor, a perfect 3-of-3 from the free throw line and added two steals.
Junior Creighton Avery (Corpus Christi, Texas) doled out a game-high six assists and freshman Ja Robertson (Houston, Texas) pulled down a team-best six rebounds. Senior Dayante McClellan (Austin, Texas) contributed seven points, five boards, three assists, two steals and a blocked shot.
An early triple from senior Tre Flowers (Bryan, Texas) gave the Javelinas a 7-3 lead and after StMU trimmed that to 10-9, the Hogs took off on a 19-4 run that was bookended by treys from sophomore Jake Majors (Corpus Christi, Texas) and Jones and included eight points from Wilson.
The Rattlers immediately trimmed their deficit to six with 10 straight points and later added a 10-2 burst to make the score 36-33 in the waning moments of the half. A three from sophomore Derek Luna (Palmview, Texas) just before the break allowed the Blue and Gold to take a six-point edge to the locker room.
That lead was erased with six straight StMU points to start the final period and the teams spent most of the next 10 minutes exchanging baskets until the Rattlers took their first lead of the half at 54-53 with 6:40 remaining. Scores from each side followed until a Kobe Magee triple put the Rattlers up 59-57 with under four minutes to play, but the Javelinas took over after that.
Jones started with trey that put TAMUK back ahead, then a Majors steal led to Jones layup for a 62-59 advantage. After another Javelina stop, Avery found Flowers in the corner for a three and a foul that led to a seven-point difference. A three-pointer by the StMU was then answered by four straight points from Avery and the Javelinas had secured their spot in the LSC semis.
"We have a special group of young men," said Estelle. "I call them my Javelina winners. I have the best job in the country because I get to coach kids who truly love the game. They love each other, they player for each other, they play for the name on the front of the jersey. When they show up on the big stage and perform, I'm not surprised, I'm just grateful because that's who they are."
The next challenge that awaits the Javelinas is a Saturday afternoon matchup against the top-seeded Lubbock Christian Chaparrals, who TAMUK will meet at 2:30 p.m with a spot in the LSC Tournament Final on the line. 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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