Jan. 9, 2010

Final Stats

Texas A&M International University defeated Incarnate Word 72-61 in Heartland Conference action on Saturday afternoon at the TAMIU Kinesiology and Convocation Building. It was the second big win in three days for the Dustdevils, who defeated St. Mary's on the home court on Thursday evening.

TAMIU (6-8, 3-2) opened the game with a 12-3 run but UIW (11-4, 5-1) ended the half with a 8-2 run over the final three and a half minutes to take a 34-28 lead at the break.

TAMIU quickly tied the score in the second half, with St. Paul Latham's layup tying the score at 34 points apiece at the 18:23 mark. The lead would be exchanged four times until the Dustdevils went on an 11-4 run midway through the period to take a 57-49 lead at the 6:48 mark.

The lead would shrink to 61-57 at the 2:09 mark before TAMIU answered with several big plays down the stretch to secure the win. One of the biggest plays was an Incarnate Word turnover forced by José Alicea at the 1:37 mark.

Alicea delivered a half-court inbounds pass to a streaking Bernard Burrell after the turnover and Burrell finished with a slam dunk that pushed the TAMIU lead to 65-57.

Burrell made two free throws at the 1:20 mark to give the Dustdevils an insurmountable 67-57 lead.

TAMIU out-rebounded and out-shot the Cardinals, making 27 of 55 field goal attempts (49.1 %) while finishing with a 40-34 rebounding edge.

Incarnate Word made 22 of 62 field goal attempts (35.5 %) en route to recording a season-low point total. The Cardinals entered the game with an 84.5 points per game scoring average.

St. Paul Latham led the Dustdevils with 23 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists. Chris Swan finished with 15 points and 8 rebounds and Burrell contributed 13 points and 8 rebounds.