Jan. 8, 2011

Final Stats

Texas A&M International University bounced back from a disappointing overtime loss on Thursday night with a resounding 81-55 win over St. Edward's in Heartland Conference play on Saturday afternoon at the TAMIU Kinesiology and Convocation Building.

St. Edward's (6-7, 0-2 Heartland) led by five points early in the game and the score was tied 19-19 at the 8:52 mark of the first half. TAMIU (11-5, 1-1) ended the period with a 20-11 run to take a 39-30 lead at the break.

SEU would get no closer than seven points in the second half and that was less than two minutes into the period.

Scottie Payne pushed the TAMIU lead to 53-41 at the 9:39 mark when he picked off a pass from SEU's Remy Boswell on one end of the court before connecting on a short jumper on the other end of the court after the steal.

Later, Evan Matteson connected on back-to-back 3-pointers from the top of the key to provide the Dustdevils a 65-51 lead at the 5:53 mark. Ryan McLucas pushed the lead to 73-52 with a lay-up at the 3:08 mark.

TAMIU shot 50 percent or better from the field in both halves and made 28 of 53 field goal attempts for the game (52.8 %) while limiting the Hilltoppers to a 19 of 53 shooting performance (35.8%).

The Dustdevils out-rebounded SEU 37-31 and recorded six steals compared to four steals for Hilltoppers.

Matteson made seven of 10 field goal attempts and led the Dustdevils with a career-high 21 points. He also finished with four rebounds and a team-high four assists.

Will Faiivae finished with 17 points and tied for the team lead with Armando Brito with eight rebounds.

Boswell led St. Edward's with 16 points. Shimeek Johnson contributed 14 points and team-high seven rebounds.