KINGSVILLE, Texas – Texas A&M-Kingsville's men's basketball team earned its sixth straight win on Saturday afternoon, knocking off Oklahoma Christian 81-72.
The Javelinas (11-5, 5-3 LSC), were led offensively in the win by junior guard Isaiah Payne who posted a team-high 18 points on 7-15 shooting from the field including 2-of-3 from the beyond the arc. Junior forward Kavon Booker put together a strong performance as well recording 14 points with an efficient 6-of-7 shooting from the field.
"I'm really pleased with how we played as a team," said head coach Johnny Estelle. "We're really coming together as a team, we still have things to clean up, but as a whole we put together a good performance we can be happy with."
Once again, the depth of the Javelinas shined bright as the Jav bench outscored the Eagles 48-18.
The Javs never trailed by more than four points in the win with the first half being a close back and forth affair that saw the Eagles shoot an efficient 15-of-23 (.652) from the floor. OC's Jovan Savic scored all 10 of his points in the first half but was matched by TAMUK's Will Chayer who scored all 11 of his points going 3-3 shooting.
Jake Majors came up clutch for the Javelinas as he hit a buzzer-beating corner three-pointer to tie the game at 45 going into the break.
After an early Eagles layup to start the half, TAMUK's Dillon Gooding hit a three-pointer to take the lead right back after which the Javs would not trail again in the game.
TAMUK broke the game open in the second half thanks in part to an 11-0 run that was sparked by a tough finish at the cup by Payne and capped off by a Booker layup to push the score to 65-53 at the 11:41 mark.
The Javs' lead grew to its largest at 6:33 left to go as a Booker up and under layup pushed it to 18 points. OC looked to comeback late with an 8-0 run that cut the lead to seven, but fell short as the Javelinas sealed the win with a handful of free throws.
UP NEXT
The Javelinas will be back at home next Thursday night for Faith Night as they take on the Patriots of Dallas Baptist at 7:30 p.m.
To keep up with the Javelinas all season long visit javelinaathletics.com to find links to live stats and streaming information as well as a recap at the end of each contest. Fans can learn more about the Javelina men's basketball team 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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