Men's Basketball 12/1/2012 10:22:00 PM

Dustdevils Dealt Tough Loss by St. Mary’s

Box Score SAN ANTONIO, Texas (December 1) – The TAMIU men’s basketball team couldn’t get anything going offensively in their conference opener and St. Mary’s University handed the Dustdevils a lopsided 59-38 loss Saturday evening at Bill Greehey Arena in San Antonio.

The Dustdevils were sharp defensively holding St. Mary’s to only 59 points, but struggled against the Rattlers’ stout interior defense. Forced to shoot from long range, TAMIU connected on only 2-17 three pointers (11.8 percent) and shot only 28 percent from the field. The 38 points scored by TAMIU was the lowest offensive output since the 2010 Dustdevils were held to 37 points by UT-Permian Basin.

The Rattlers were efficient inside and out, knocking down 52.3 percent of their field goals and 45.5 percent of their three-point attempts.

Daryell Taylor and Kevin Kotzur led the Rattlers scoring 16 and 12 points respectively. Kotzur also added 11 rebounds to finish with the game’s only double-double. Jordan Clark was the only Dustdevil to score in double figures finishing with 10 points. He also led TAMIU on the boards grabbing seven rebounds.

TAMIU came out of the gates strong, jumping out to a quick 4-0 lead. They maintained a small edge until Moses Sundufu connected on a trey to give the Rattlers a 14-12 lead – a lead St. Mary’s would never relinquish. Over the next three minutes the Rattlers scored 10 straight points, pushing their lead out to 24-12. Kevin Jefferson cut the lead down to eight points with a layup at the 1:37 mark, but St. Mary’s answered with a bucket of their own to take a 34-24 lead at the break.

Rattlers’ guard Isaiah Matthews opened the second half converting a three point play kick starting a 13-2 run for St. Mary’s, increasing their lead to 19 points. The Dustdevils continued to struggle shooting the ball and Kevin Kotzur converted a three point play with 6:08 remaining to give the Rattlers their biggest lead of the game at 55-32. The home team went on cruise control the rest of the way, coasting to a 59-38 win.

The loss drops the Dustdevils to 3-2 on the season and 0-1 in conference play. TAMIU won’t return to conference play until January 3, when the Dustdevils host back to back games versus Oklahoma Panhandle St. and UT-Permian Basin. The team will be back in action on Thursday, December 6 hosting non-conference opponent Texas A&M Kingsville at 7 p.m. at the TAMIU KCB. The last time the Dustdevils and Javelinas met, TAMIU came away with a 67-60 win.

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