Feb. 3, 2012
Final Stats
LAREDO, Texas - Brian Schaeffer picked up his second double-double of the season and the Dustdevils defense put on an impressive performance, as the Texas A&M International University Men's Basketball Team picked up their fifth straight win routing St. Edward's Thursday night 67-50.
With Newman losing on the road to Arkansas Fort-Smith 70-59 Thursday night, the Dustdevils now jump into a first place tie with the Jets atop the Heartland Conference Standings with identical 7-1 conference records.
The 50 points allowed by TAMIU was the fewest they've given up in a conference game this season. The Dustdevils held the Hilltoppers to just 36 percent shooting from the field and 12 percent shooting from three-point range, while out-rebounding the visitors 44-24.
"We were pretty good once we got past the first ten minutes," said Head Coach Shane Rinner. "They average 83 points per game and we held them to 50. When you hold a team to 33 points less than what they average, that's really defending well. There was a stretch of ten minutes in the first half where he held them to four points and that completely changed the momentum of the game."
The Dustdevils defense struggled early giving up 22 points in the opening nine minutes of the game, but tightened up allowing just three points in the final 11 minutes. Evan Matteson hit a jumper at the 11:07 mark kick-starting a 14-3 run to close the half, giving TAMIU a five-point lead (30-25) heading into the locker room.
After trading buckets to open the second half, Schaeffer hit one of his two second half threes igniting a 19-4 run to give the Dustdevils a 20-point lead (54-34) with 8:44 to play. The Hilltoppers battled back with a 10-2 run of their own to pull within 12, forcing TAMIU to call a timeout. After the break The Dustdevils fired back with a 9-2 run pushing the lead back to 19 points (65-46) with 2:26 to play, locking up the 67-50 victory.
"During that timeout we talked about playing every possession like it's your last," said Coach Rinner. "I reminded the guys that we made a commitment to play possession basketball and we have to take every opportunity as If the score was 0-0."
Evan Matteson scored a team high 17 points for the Dustdevils, while Schaeffer added 15 points and 10 rebounds. Two more scored in double figures for TAMIU with Armando Brito kicking in 12 points and Ryan McLucas finishing with 10. The Dustdevils shot 52 percent from the field and 33 percent from three-point range.
TAMIU improved to 7-1 in conference play and 17-4 on the season. Saturday afternoon the Dustdevils will face another tough opponent, hosting U.T. Permian basin who is coming off a 41-38 win over St. Mary's. Tip-off is set for 2:00 p.m. at the KCB.
