LAREDO, Texas (December 9, 2017) – A poor first half was the demise of the Texas A&M International University men's basketball teams as they dropped their Heartland Conference opener to St. Mary's 87-73 on Saturday afternoon at the TAMIU Kinesiology and Convocation Building in front of 413 fans. The Dustdevils shot 33.3% in the first 20 minutes as the Rattlers handed them their first loss in a conference opener in five years.
 
"Today we met an experienced team with four starters back and they said welcome to the Heartland Conference," head coach Bryan Weakley said. "I am really interested and excited to see how our team is going to respond to this adversity."
 
Xabier Gomez scored a game-high 26 points, 19 of those coming in the second half, while with three steals and two rebounds. Kamari Robinson was the only other Dustdevil in double figures scoring a career-high 21 points going 7-of-10 from the field and 6-of-11 from the charity stripe. The Dustdevils (6-4, 0-1 HC) were outshot by the Rattlers (4-7, 1-1 HC) 58.7% to 44.4%.
 
TAMIU jumped out to an early 7-2 lead in the first three minutes on a jumper from Dan Milota followed by a three and fast break layup from Gomez. The Rattlers would respond by scoring 12 of the next 14 points to take the lead for the first time on the evening. Shea Garland scored four straight including twice from the free-throw to give the Dustdevils the lead back at 13-12.
 
A Robinson layup extended the lead to three, 15-12, with a little more than 13 minutes remaining on a layup stemming from a steal from Wright. The Dustdevils would go cold from the field over the three minutes missing four shots as StMU regained the lead, 21-15.
 
A Wright layup with just under eight minutes remaining in the first half cut the Rattler lead to four points, 19-23. TAMIU was unable to get stops the remaining of the half seeing their deficit grow to as large as 18 before finishing the first half down 42-25.
 
Damon Leach scored the first points of the second half for the Dustdevils on drive down the right baseline. Gomez followed that up with a layup just a minute later getting TAMIU within 16, 45-29. Another shooting drought bit the TAMIU over the next over the five minutes as the deficit grew to a game-high 25 minutes.
 
A Milota three combined with a Robinson layup ended the cold streak making it 55-35 with 13 minutes remaining. The Dustdevils continued to chip away at the lead getting it down to as low as 15 with 11 minutes remaining on a 3-pointer from Brendan Ortiz.
 
 
Gomez scored nine of his 26 over the next six minutes spearheading the Dustdevils comeback efforts but they were unable to overcome the hot shooting of the Rattlers. TAMIU finished the game on an 8-4 run over to cut the deficit to 14 points, 87-73, at the final whistle.
 
The Dustdevils return to action on Saturday, Nov. 16, hosting conference leaders Dallas Baptist at 2 p.m. All home games are broadcast on the Heartland Conference Digital Network.
 
PLAYER NOTES
Xabier Gomez
Gomez had a career-high 26 points for the Dustdevils going 8-of-13 shooting and 7-of-10 from the free-throw line. 19 of those 26 were scored in the second half while also tying a career-high with three steals.
 
Jeremy Wright
Wright didn't shoot the ball well (1-of-9) but got his teammates involved with a career-high 10 assists while contributing three steals. He becomes the second Dustdevil this season to have 10 or more assists joining Danny Spinuzza. The senior now has three or more steals in five games including in three straight games.
 
Kamari Robinson
Robinson was one of two Dustdevils to eclipse 20 points in today's contest as the senior scored a career-high 21 points off the bench going 7-of-10 from the field. He also pulled down a team-high seven rebounds with four of those coming on the offensive glass.