Jan. 27, 2011

Final Stats

Monday was a special night for Texas A&M International University Athletics. In addition to the men's soccer team being honored for winning its first Heartland Conference title the men's basketball team defeated first place St. Mary's 79-69 in front of a season-high crowd of 845 raucous fans.

St. Mary's (11-7, 5-1 Heartland) led by as many as seven points in the first half before taking a 56-45 lead on a 3-pointer by David Clark at the 13:19 mark of the second half. TAMIU (14-6, 4-1) turned in up a notch at that point and came back for one of the biggest wins in years for the program.

The Dustdevils took their first second half lead at 58-57 on a lay-up by Evan Matteson at the 8:02 mark. Matteson started that possession with a hustle rebound on the other end of the court, saving it for TAMIU with a midair redirection of a ball from beyond the base line.

St. Mary's would take a 60-58 lead on its next possession on a 3-pointer by Jeff Campbell but a 3-pointer by Luís Gómez at the 6:10 mark put the Dustdevils ahead 63-60. TAMIU would keep the lead the rest of the way.

Ryan McLucas put the game out of reach with an old fashioned 3-pointer at the 1:12 mark. He drove the lane and was fouled on a made lay-up. The ensuing free throw pushed TAMIU to an insurmountable 73-65 lead.

TAMIU made six of six free throws over the final 60 seconds of regulation to stretch the final winning margin to 10 points.

Will Faiivae led the Dustdevils with 18 points and 10 rebounds, marking his third double-double of the season. He recorded four of those rebounds in critical situations in the last five minutes of the game.

Matteson finished with 15 points and six rebounds, Brian Schaeffer with 13 points and Gómez with 12 points.

Josh Otra led the St. Mary's with 21 points. Campbell contributed with 17 points and Kevin Kotzur finished with 10 points and a team-high 11 rebounds. Kotzur, the leading scorer in the conference, scored all 10 points in the first half.