KINGSVILLE, Texas – The 12th-seeded Texas A&M-Kingsville men's basketball team saw their magical Lone Star Conference Tournament run come to an end at the hands the of second-seeded and No. 18 West Texas A&M Buffaloes by a score of 77-70 on Sunday afternoon in the LSC Tournament Final at the Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas.
"I'm proud of these guys," said coach Johnny Estelle. "We ran out of time today. These guys gave us everything they had. They played a very good, well-coached team. The Lubbock Christian game took a lot out of us yesterday. I give West Texas credit, they really did a good job. We had some guys who just ran out of gas, but they had a lot to do with it."
Junior Creighton Avery (Corpus Christi, Texas) led the Javelinas with 17 points, shooting 6-of-8 from the field. This makes seven times in TAMUK's last nine games Avery has scored in double figures.
Junior Jordan Wilson (Blytheville, Ark.) posted his third straight double-digit scoring effort with 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting and senior Tre Flowers (Bryan, Texas) added 10 with three assists. No one grabbed more rebounds than senior Dayante McClellan (Austin, Texas), who pulled down eight while adding a pair of dimes, two blocked shots and a steal.
For their efforts, both Wilson and McClellan were named to the LSC All-Tournament Team.
The Hogs and the Buffs traded scores for the first 12 minutes of the first half, with neither team leading by more than four, but WT broke a 19-19 deadlock with seven straight points and they carried that edge into halftime, leading 39-32 at the break.
Wilson began the second period by immediately canning a three, but the Buffs answered by scoring eight of the next 10 points for their first double-digit edge of the day, 47-36. TAMUK's answer was a 6-0 burst to get within five.
Unfortunately, the Javelinas couldn't keep their momentum going. WT quickly increased their lead to 12 and later to 15 at 70-55 with 4:10 on the clock. That deficit proved for the Blue and Gold to overcome as the Buffs captured the tournament title.
The Javelinas must now wait for word from the NCAA to see if they've earned a spot in the NCAA South Central Regional Tournament, which will begin on March 12th. 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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