Feb. 23, 2009

Final Stats

St. Mary's defeated Texas A&M International University 76-62 in Heartland Conference action on Monday night at the TAMIU Kinesiology & Convocation Building. The loss ends TAMIU's hopes of earning a Heartland Conference Tournament berth.

TAMIU (8-17, 6-8 Heartland) started both halves slowly. St. Mary's (15-10, 10-4) started the first half with a 12-0 run before TAMIU battled back to cut the halftime deficit to 29-25.

The Rattlers started the second half with a 24-11 run to take a 53-36 lead at the 13:30 mark. The Dustdevils made another comeback, cutting the lead to 63-57 on a layup by Jerante Morgan with 3:24 remaining in regulation.

St. Mary's buckled down at that point, however, and secured the win by scoring on their final six possessions. The Rattlers made three of four field goal attempts and six of eight free throw attempts down the stretch.

Jerante Morgan led the Dustdevils with 19 points and four blocks. Sean Tucker finished with 11 points and Derek Barnes contributed 10 points.

TAMIU closes out the regular season with two road games. The Dustdevils will play at Oklahoma Panhandle State on Thursday and UT-Permian Basin on Saturday.