Jan. 7, 2010

Final Stats

Texas A&M International University edged St. Mary's 70-69 in a hard-fought Heartland Conference contest on Thursday night at the TAMIU Kinesiology and Convocation Building. The result improves TAMIU's record to 2-9 in the all-time series and snaps a three-game losing streak against the Rattlers.

There were six lead changes in the first half, with a Christian Jones' jumper from the left side with three seconds left in the period pushing the Dustdevils to a 33-32 lead at the break.

The second half went back-and-forth as well. Bernard Burrell grabbed a rebound with the score tied 56-56 with 5:28 remaining and hit an off-balance jumper on the other end of the court to give the Dustdevils a 2-point lead.

St. Mary's (6-8, 2-3 Heartland) tied the score 58-58 at the 3:59 mark but Luis Gómez made three free throws after being fouled on a 3-point attempt with 3:17 remaining to push TAMIU to a 61-58 lead.

The lead stood at 69-64 with 28 seconds remaining and Evan Matteson hit one of two free throws with 10 seconds left to give TAMIU (5-8, 2-2) a 70-66 lead. St. Mary's hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to cut the margin to one point.

Starting with Gómez's three made free throws at the 3:17 mark, TAMIU made 10 of 11 free throws down the stretch to secure the win.

Gómez made 5 of 10 3-point attempts and finished with a team-high 20 points. Burrell finished with 17 points and St. Paul Latham contributed 10 points and 8 assists. Will Faiivae lead the Dustdevils with 9 rebounds.

TAMIU returns to action on Saturday with a home conference game against Incarnate Word. Tip-off is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.