LAREDO, Texas (December 16, 2017) – The Texas A&M International University men's basketball team shot nearly 44 percent from the field but were unable to overcome a slow start to the second half falling to Dallas Baptist, 67-59, on Saturday afternoon at the TAMIU Kinesiology and Convocation Building. Overall, the Dustdevils (6-6, 0-2 Heartland) outshot DBU (10-1, 2-0) 43.5% to 34.8% but the Patriots made 28 free throws compared to seven for TAMIU.
 
"I thought that we showed a lot of heart tonight," TAMIU head coach Bryan Weakley said. "We didn't cave in when we faced adversity but we grew together. We have no time to relax as we have to play another great team on Tuesday. Hopefully we will continue to get better and at some point, we will have more success."
 
Brendan Ortiz was one of three Dustdevils in double-figures tying a career-high with 15 points going 5-of-10 from 3-point range. Kamari Robinson added 11 points and seven rebounds with Dan Milota reaching double digits for the ninth time this season with 11 of his own.
 
The Dustdevils jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first minute of regulation on a layup from Xabier Gomez and a three from Milota. The Patriots made a run of their own making 5-5 before Robinson's first bucket combined with a three from Ortiz restored the 5-point advantage, 10-5.
 
Robinson hit his first and only three of the night with 12:11 remaining in the first half stretching the Dustdevils lead to eight, 18-10. After exchanging baskets, the Dustdevils went on a 5-0 run to extend the lead to a game-high 11 on a pair of free throws from Gomez and a three from Danny Spinuzza.
 
Damon Leach made the final basket of the first half for the Dustdevils with a jumper on the right baseline with 5:45 left extending their lead to 11, 31-20. TAMIU would see their lead shrink to five, 31-26, heading into halftime after finish the final 5:30 minutes 0-of-6 from the field with seven turnovers.
 
The Dustdevils struggles on offense carried over to the first four minutes of the second half before Milota hit his second three of the evening knotting the game at 34-34 at 15:36. A pair of DBU free throws gave them the visitors the lead for the second time of the evening until Milota hit another three, this time with two defenders in his face making it 37-36 in favor of TAMIU.
 
Following the under 12-minute media timeout, the Dustdevils were outscored 12-2 over the next three minutes with their lone basket coming on a jumper from Jeremy Wright. But they didn't give up as they retaliated with a 9-1 run of their own capped off with a fast break layup by Gomez following a steal from Wright.
 
Back-to-back empty positions and timely shooting from the Patriots had the Dustevils down seven with under four minutes remaining until Wright hit his 23^rd three of the season with 4:12 remaining making it 55-51. The Dustdevils missed two free throws with a chance to tie at 2:19 after a Chris McDonald three in the previous position had the Dustdevils within two.
 
Robinson went 2-of-2 from the charity stripe with 1:28 remaining to retain the two-point deficit but a Patriot made a wide open three on the next position put the game out of reach as the Dustdevils fell 67-59 to DBU.
 
The Dustdevils finish off their six-game home stand against No. 22 Texas A&M-Commerce on Tuesday, Dec. 19, at 6 p.m. All home games are broadcast on the Heartland Conference Digital Network.
 
PLAYER NOTES
Brendan Ortiz
Making his fourth start of the season, Ortiz tied a career-high with 15 points on 5-of-15 shooting from the field. He set a career-high with five 3-pointers with three of those coming in the first half. It marks the second time this season that the sophomore has led the Dustdevils in scoring.
 
Kamari Robinson
Robinson scored in double-figures for the third time in three games with 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting. He also pulled down a team-high seven rebounds marking the seventh time this season he has pulled down 7 or more in a game this season. He has also made a 3-pointer in seven straight games.
 
Jeremy Wright
Wright came off the bench for the first time this season scoring five points adding five assists, four rebounds and one steal.  The senior has five or more assists in four straight games and nine overall.