Box Score LAREDO, Texas – With two previous meetings playing through a combined five overtimes, the Heartland Conference's No.2-seed Texas A&M International and No. 3 St. Mary's battled down the stretch of Friday's Heartland Tournament semifinal. TAMIU finally came out on top, 61-52, after falling in both the previous meetings.
The difference of the game stood out as the 11-point gap between the teams at halftime. St. Mary's would make up ground on TAMIU in the second half with two more points than the Dustdevils. The Dustdevils led by as many as 16 with 16 minutes left in the game.
Former Heartland Conference Player of the Week Vadal Faniel led the Dustdevils with 20 points to complement his five rebounds, two assists and steals and a stuffed shot in 32 minutes. Deonnte Breedlove scored 15 with five boards, two blocks and a steal; and Jordan Clark scored 10 points with two assists, a block and a steal with eight rebounds. Damal Donaldson scored nine points, Jamie Farrie had four and Matthew Culliver Jr. scored three.
The Dustdevils held an 18-point scoring advantage over the Rattlers in the paint, despite shooting just 43.8 percent from the free throw line.
The Dustdevils will now stand as the home team in the Heartland Conference championship game against the University of Texas of the Permian Basin on Saturday in Fort Smith, Ark. The winner will automatically qualify for the NCAA South Central Regional Tournament, while the loser will have to wait for Sunday's selection show to see if an at-large bid will punch their ticket.
The selection show is on Sunday at 9:30 p.m. and can be watched at http://www.ncaa.com/live/player?vid=2014/1345&date=2014/03/09.
