LIVE STATS | HEARTLAND CONFERENCE DIGITAL NETWORK | GAME NOTES

LAREDO, Texas (January 25, 2018) – The Texas A&M International University men's basketball team will host the Hilltoppers of St. Edward's for a Heartland Conference matchup on Saturday, Jan. 27. Tipoff is set for 3:00 p.m. at the TAMIU Kinesiology and Convocation Building. The game will be broadcast on the Heartland Conference Digital Network.
 
ABOUT TAMIU
The Dustdevils need a win. They executed a near-perfect strategy in the first half against Dallas Baptist on Wednesday before the second half got away from them in a 62-41 loss dropping them to 7-13 overall and 0-8 in conference play. Head coach Bryan Weakley enters the game against St. Edward's with 94 wins, just six wins short of becoming the first coach in program history to eclipse 100 victories.
 
TAMIU relies heavily on their defensive effort as they hold opposing teams to a Heartland Conference-best 66.6 points per game. Jeremy Wright (10.7 ppg, 5.0 apg, 2.5 spg) has been the best all-around player for the Dustdevils over the past five games reaching double-digits in scoring four times. He filled the stat sheet against DBU with 13 points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals. The senior leads the conference in steals (49) and ranks ninth nationally.
 
Xabier Gomez (11.8 ppg, 3.3 rpg) will look to rebound after going 2-of-10 from the field for five points against DBU. The Barcelona, Spain product is the top 3-point shooter on the team making 47% of his attempts from beyond the arc. Brendan Ortiz (9.4 ppg, 2.8 rpg) is also another 3-point threat as the sophomore has made one or more from deep in six straight games.
 
Kamari Robinson (10.4 ppg, 5.3 rpg) is the leading scorer for the Dustdevils in conference play at 11.3 points per game shooting 49.2% from the field. He has started the last three games after coming off the bench the previous 10 games. He is the only Dustdevil to record a double-double this season after going for 19 and 13 against Texas A&M-Kingsville.
 
ABOUT ST. EDWARD'S
Located in Austin, Texas, with an enrollment of 4,056 students, St. Edward's is 14-6 overall and 4-4 in Heartland Conference play. The Hilltoppers are coached by Andre Cook who picked up his 250^th career win on Thursday against St. Mary's. Cook was hired in 2009 and has led his team to three straight conference tournament appearances.
 
The conference's highest scoring team ended a two-game losing streak with a 85-77 victory over the Rattlers of StMU. The Hilltoppers are 4-4 on the road this season with one of those victories coming against nationally-ranked Texas A&M-Kingsville on Dec. 16.
 
Landon Goesling (21.5 ppg, 2.4 rpg) is the leading scorer for a SEU team that averages 91.3 points per game and shoots better than 47% from the field. The junior has been on a tear recently averaging 27.0 points per game over his last three games. During that stretch, he has made a living at the charity stripe making 30 of his 31 attempts. Dorian Lopez (14.3 ppg, 8.0 rpg) has eight double-doubles this season including a 23-point, 10-rebound performance against Rogers State last Saturday. James Taylor (12.2 ppg) and Sean Watkins (10.6 ppg) both average in double figures in scoring with Taylor doing all of his work off the bench.
 
THE SERIES
Saturday's afternoon matchup will be the 23^rd all-time meeting between the two programs… The series is tied at 11-11with the Dustdevils holding a 6-4 advantage in games played in Laredo… St. Edward's has won five of the last seven after TAMIU won nine straight from 2010-2014.
 
A TAMIU WIN WOULD…
End a six-game losing streak… Be their first Heartland Conference win of the season… Be their first win against a Division II opponent since Nov. 18… Improve head coach Bryan Weakley's overall record to 95-71 and 61-26 at home…
 
A TAMIU LOSS WOULD…
Keep them winless in conference play at 0-9… Give the Hilltoppers a 12-11 advantage in the all-time series... Mark the first time during Weakley's tenure that he has lost eight homes games in a single season.
 
THIS DAY IN DUSTDEVIL MEN'S BASKETBALL HISTORY…
The Dustdedevils enter Saturday's game 2-0 on games played on Jan. 27… They defeated UT Permian Basin 75-65 in 2007 in Odessa… In 2011, the Dustdevils defeated the Rattlers of St. Mary's 79-69 behind 26 points from Scottie Payne.
 
A LOOK BACK AT WEDNESDAY
The Dustdevils held Dallas Baptist to a season-low in points in their 62-41 loss to the Patriots on Wednesday night at The Burg Center. It was a tale of two halves for TAMIU as trailed by two at halftime, 23-21, after slowing down the pace of the game and forcing 10 turnovers. The second half was a different story as TAMIU went more than eight minutes without a basket after taking a one-point lead a minute into the second intermission.  
 
Jeremy Wright had a team-high 13 points going 3-of-4 from 3-point range with five rebounds, five assists and four steals in 35 minutes of action. Kamari Robinson chipped in 10 points extending his free-throw streak to nine after going 4-of-4 from the charity stripe. Brendna Ortiz contributed nine points making a 3-pointer for the sixth straight game.
 
MAKING THE WRIGHT MOVE
Jeremy Wright moved into the top-10 for steals in a single season after bringing his season total to 49 on Wednesday evening. He is tied for seventh with Larry White (2003-04) 14 shy of breaking Matthew Culliver Jr.'s record of 62 set back in 2012-13. He also became the eighth player in program history to record 100 or more assists in a single season in TAMIU's loss to DBU.
 
UP NEXT
The Dustevils welcome Lubbock Christian to town on Saturday, Feb. 3, for a 3:00 p.m. tipoff. The Chaps won the first meeting of the season, 66-43, on Jan. 4 in Lubbock.