LAREDO, Texas (November 30, 2017) – A dominant team performance gave the Texas A&M International University men's basketball a 108-57 victory over Paul Quinn College in the 2017 Courtyard Marriott Classic on Friday night. The 49-point victory is the largest margin of victory since TAMIU defeated Southwestern Adventist 122-60 on December 8, 2013.
 
"Tonight we looked like the total opposite of Monday," TAMIU head coach Bryan Weakley said. "We played together and we competed for the majority of the game. Hopefully we can build on it."
 
Xabier Gomez was one of five Dustdevils in double figures as TAMIU broke the 100-point barrier for the first time this season. The junior finished with 17 points going 6-of-8 from the field. Shea Garland had a career-night with 16 points and four rebounds with Dan Milota pitching in 14 points. Jeremy Wright had 14 points and seven assists while Marek Hajek went 3-of-4 from 3-point range for 10 points. The Dustdevils (4-4) outshot the Tigers (2-4) 64.5% to 48.1% making a season-high 16 3-pointers.
 
The Dustdevils started the game on am 8-2 run thanks to a three from Wright and a pair of layups from Gomez. After allowing the Tigers to get within three, 11-8, TAMIU responded with a 7-0 run stemming from 3-pointers from Wright and Hajek.
 
PQC would cut the lead to nine points one last time in the game with a little less than nine minutes remaining at 23-14 before the Dustdevils scored the next 11 points over the next two minutes. A dunk from Garland on a nice pass from Milota stretched the lead to 19, 40-21, just before the under-4 media timeout.
 
Danny Spinuzza hit his only three of the evening to make it a 21-point lead followed by four straight points to stretch the lead to 25, 50-25, where it would stay at the end of the first half.  At the break, the Dustdevils shot 70.4% from the field and 64.3% from 3-point range with Wright, Gomez and Milota combining for 32 of the 52 points.
 
The Dustdevils started the second half much like the first scoring 16 of the first 18 points making it a 34-point contest, 66-32, after an and-one from Kamari Robinson. The teams traded baskets until Hajek and Chris McDonald hit back-to-back threes to push the lead to 40 for the first time of the evening with 9:30 remaining.
 
A pair of free-throws and a layup from Garland followed by Hajek's third deep ball of the made it 101-51. The dustdevils continued to pour on in the final three minutes as Damon Leach made a layup with Stanley Perrin making his first career 3-pointer making it 108-55 with a minute left to go.
 
The Dustdevils return to action for the second day of the Courtyard Marriot Classic taking on Arlingot Baptist at 7 p.m. at the TAMIU KCB. All home games are broadcast on the Heartland Conference Digital Network.
 
PLAYER NOTES
Danny Spinuzza
Spinuzza made the most of his first career start as he had one of the best games by a Dustdevil guard in recent memory as the junior fell one point short of a double-double. He tied a career-high in points with nine while dishing out a season-high 10 assists. Before tonight's game, he had 13 total assists through seven games.
 
Jeremy Wright
Wright continues to lead the Dustdevil offense scoring in double figures for the eighth straight game. He scored 11 of his 14 points in the first half finishing with four 3-pointers for the third time this season. He also dished out an impressive seven assists just one short of his career-high.
 
Shea Garland
The Dustdevils have been looking for a spark off the bench and Garland was just that tonight finishing with 16 points, four rebounds and two assists. He went 7-of-10 from the field including a monstrous dunk in the face off a defender in the second half.
 
Marek Hajek
The freshman finally found his touch tonight scoring in double figures for the first time in his career. He scored 12 points in 17 minutes going a career-high 3-of-4 from 3-point range.
 
Xabier Gomez
Gomez bounced back after the worst game of his career leading the team in scoring for the third time this season. Although he struggled from the charity stripe, the Barcelona, Spain product was a tough matchup for the Tigers going 7-of-11 from the field with most of those coming from close range.