Box Score SAN ANTONIO, Texas – In what's becoming South Texas' fiercest rivalry on the hardwood, Texas A&M International and St. Mary's battled through two overtimes in the both team's Heartland Conference regular season finales. In the teams' two games this season, they've played a total of 80 minutes of regulation and 25 minutes of overtime. In Laredo on January 18, the pair played through three overtimes before St. Mary's won, 87-85.
On Saturday in San Antonio, it was an all too familiar feeling for the Dustdevils (20-8, 13-5 Heartland). TAMIU fell in double overtime, 74-65, to clinch the No. 2 seed in the Heartland. Arkansas-Fort Smith was idle on Saturday, but secured the regular season championship and right to host the Heartland Tournament as the top seed on March 7-8.
The epic five-combined overtimes now prelude a tournament matchup between the rivals on March 7 – at a time to be determined. The winner of TAMIU and No. 3 St. Mary's (19-7, 12-6 Heartland) will advance to the tournament championship game for a chance at an automatic qualification to the NCAA Division II South Central Regional tournament. Only the tournament champions from the Heartland, Lone Star and Rocky Mountain Athletic conferences pick up automatic berths, while the next five highest regional ranked teams also qualify. As of Feb. 25's poll, TAMIU ranked seventh in the South Central.
On Saturday, the Dustdevils saw senior forward Jordan Clark lead the offense with 16 points while three others also scored double-digit totals. Despite all that, the Dustdevils were shutout in the second overtime, failing to score a point.
Clark finished with a team-high eight rebounds and two steals over 43 minutes on the floor.
Fellow senior Kevin Jefferson Jr., a guard, scored 12 points off the bench in 33 minutes of action. He also pulled in six boards while dealing an assist and stuffing a Rattlers' shot. Starting senior point guard Matthew Culliver Jr. scored 11 points with three rebounds and two steals before fouling out with 34 minutes played. Big man Curtis Trotter scored 10 points off the bench with four rebounds, an assist and a steal in 29 minutes.
Damal Donaldson scored nine points with a block and a steal, Vadal Faniel scored six points with an assist and a rejected shot, and Deonnte Breedlove scored a point but dealt two assists, a steal and pulled in four boards.
Despite averaging a team second-best 12 points per game, senior guard Johnel Gray was silenced by the Rattlers. He didn't score, but did pull in five rebounds with an assist and a steal in just 16 minutes of play.
Jamie Farrie didn't score either but made a rebound and a steal in 12 minutes.
The Dustdevils shot 36.5 percent from the field and just 16.7 from the 3-point arc. They also converted just 53.3 percent of their free throws, missing out on a total 14 possible points from the line. St. Mary's stood opposite from the line, shooting 79.5 percent despite a 34.5 percent performance from the field.
The Rattlers' nine points in the second overtime stood as the difference, with four of those points coming from the line.
The teams will now have six days before a season-deciding rematch in Fort Smith, Ark.
