Tamiu falls short against Incarnate Word

Box Score LAREDO, TX - The TAMIU men’s basketball team could not close the deal against Lone Star conference opponent Incarnate Word, as they suffered their first loss off the season 68-72 Saturday night at the TAMIU KCB.

The Dustdevils two game winning streak ends with the loss and puts their record at 2-1 overall.

Starting guard Matthew Culliver Jr. lead all Dustdevil scorers with 19 points, eight rebounds, and six assists. Fellow starting backcourt member Johnel Gray added on 14 points and ninr rebounds. TAMIU post Damal Donaldson came off the bench to drop in 10 points going perfect from the field (4-4).

The Cardinals got off to a quick start grabbing the early 11-6 lead, sparked by a jumper from Incarnate Word post Anthony Horton, who finished with 12 points. A deep three from Johnel Gray and a quick bucket from Culliver, brought the Dustdevils within two points with the score at 18-16. But with the Cardinals shooting 51.9% from the field in the first half, they pushed the lead to 37-24 at half.

The Dustdevils started the second half with 10-3 run, capped off by a Culliver jump shot at 17:21, to cut the lead to 40-34. TAMIU held the Cardinals to only 2-6 shooting from beyond the arc in the second half, as they chipped away at the lead. Working hard down low, Damal Donaldson gave the Dustdevils their first lead of the game at the12:15 marker, making the score 45-44.

With the Cardinals starting to pull away, Culliver drained a crucial three to bring TAMIU within two with 18 seconds left to play. But clutch free throw shooting from Incarnate Word would close out the game and give them the 72-68 victory.

The Dustdevils are back in action as they travel to Eastern New Mexico on November 20^th.

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