SAN ANTONIO, Texas (November 17, 2017) – Senior Jeremy Wright scored a career-high 19 points as Texas A&M International University men's basketball defeated Randall 77-71 on Friday night at the 2017 River City Classic hosted by St. Mary's. The Dustdevils shot a season-high 48% from the field to improve to 2-1 while Randall falls to 1-6.
 
"I thought our team responded well from last week's letdown," TAMIU head coach Bryan Weakley said. "However, we did not good job of finishing the game in the second half. With such a new group of guys it's going to be a constant refining process."
 
Wright was one of four Dustdevils in double figures with team-high 19 on 7-of-10 shooting including 4-of-5 from beyond the arc while adding five assists. Dan Milota also had a career-night with 17 points while Xabier Gomez just missed out on a double-double with 18 points and nine rebounds. Kamari Robinson chipped in 14 points and four rebounds as TAMIU shot 9-of-20 from three and 16-of-25 from the free throw line.
 
The Dustdevils opened the game on an 8-0 run in the first two minutes with Milota scoring four points in the paint. Randall cut the lead to three before a three from Wright and jumper from Milota extended the lead back to eight, 13-5, heading into the first media timeout.
 
A layup and dunk from Robinson with less than eight minutes capped off a 4-0 run by TAMIU taking their lead to 13, 27-14. Randall would respond with 6-0 run of their own courtesy of free throws from Xavier Hunter and Brandon Askew. A three from Gomez with 3:13 remaining in the half capped off six straight points for the Dustdevils stretching the lead to 14. After a pair of Hunter free throws, TAMIU would score four of the final six points to lead 40-29 at halftime.
 
It was Randall that came out firing on all cylinders in the second half gong on an 8-1 run to cut the Dustdevil lead to three. Wright and Hunter exchanged threes in the following two positions before TAMIU went on a 5-0 run on a three from Milota and layup from Garland to stretch the lead back to eight.
 
Randall wouldn't go away as they got within three points with a little more than 10 minutes to go in the game but the Dustdevils responded with a 10-0 run over the next four to extend the lead back to 13. Gomez would his fourth and final three-pointer of the evening with 3:09 left in the game to make it a15-point game, 71-56, but Randall wouldn't go away as they an 8-0 run of their own to get within seven in the final minute. A pair of free throws from Miota with four seconds left sealed the deal as the Dustdevils improved to 2-1 on the season.
 
The Dustdevils will play one more game at the River City Classic on Saturday, Nov. 18, at 5 p.m. against the Rangers of Wisconsin-Parkside. The game will be available on the Heartland Conference Digital Network.