LUBBOCK, Texas (January 4, 2018) – A slow start doomed the Texas A&M International men's basketball team as they were held to a season-low points in a 66-43 loss to Lubbock Christian on Thursday night in front of 431 fans at the Rip Griffin Center. The Dustdevils were unable to find their shooting touch dropping a third straight in the all-time series to the Chaps in Lubbock.
 
Brendan Ortiz was the lone Dustdevil in double figures with 13 points going 5-of-11 from the field with four rebounds and two assists. Kamari Robinson chipped in nine points and four rebounds off the bench. TAMIU (7-8, 0-3) were outshout by LCU (5-9, 1-2) 48.1% to 34.0% while allowing 32 points in the paint.
 
The Dustdevils struggled out of the gate going 1-of-6 from the field with six turnovers in the first seven minutes to find themselves down 19-2. Ortiz's three at 12:29 ended a shooting drought that spanned longer than five minutes making it 19-5.
 
A Jeremy Wright jumper followed by a pair of free throws from Kamari Robinson under the nine-minute mark cut LCU's lead to 30-11. Robinson proceeded to score the next five points for TAMIU including a three from the right side followed by a layup making it 36-16.
 
The Dustdevils got the LCU lead under 20 points with less than four minutes left on a nice move down low by Shea Garland for an easy layup and a jumper from Ortiz. They stole some momentum from LCU heading into the locker room scoring the last four points of the half making it 41-24 at the first intermission. 
 
Xabier Gomez made his first shot of the second half with a three from the right corner cutting the LCU lead to 14, 41-27, with just over 18 minutes remaining. A Damon Leach put back off an offensive board ended a 6-0 run from the Chaps getting the Dustdevils back within 18, 47-29.
 
A pair of jumpers from Ortiz with just over 12 minutes remaining kept the deficit at 18, 51-33, as neither team would make a basket for the next four minutes of play. IT was Leach who once again found the bottom of the net for the Dustdevils at 6:44.
 
Dan Milota got on the score sheet for the first time with a jumper at 5:17 making it a 20-point game, 57-37. Gomez went 2-for-2 from the free-throw line at 2:08 marking the six straight game the junior has converted from the charity stripe. Leach scored the final points of the game with a tip in off a missed Danny Spinuzza three as the Dustdevils lost 66-43 dropping to 0-3 in conference play for the first time in program history.
 
The Dustdevils will return home for a pair of conference games against Oklahoma Christian (Jan. 11) and Newman (Jan. 13) at the TAMIU Kinesiology and Convocation Building.
 
PLAYER NOTES
Brendan Ortiz
Ortiz reached double figures in scoring for the third time in four games with 13 points. He tied a career-high with nine first half points going 3-of-6 from the field and 1-of-2 from 3-point range.
 
Damon Leach
The junior big man came off the bench to score six points going 3-of-5 from the field and pulling down a career-high six rebounds. It marks the fourth time in his career and first since Nov. 27 that he has recorded five or more rebounds in a game. His three made field goals also tied a career-high.