LAREDO, Texas - Texas A&M International men's basketball (2-8, 0-4 LSC) fell 70-69 in a heartbreaker to Western New Mexico (3-7, 2-1 LSC) on Thursday.

Senior Caleb Highley led the Dustdevils with a career-high 26 points as well as six rebounds, three assists and two blocks. Junior Matija Novkovic posted a season-high 16 points with two steals and a rebound. Sophomore Tom Higgins contributed a double-double of 11 points and rebounds with two assists and a block.

The first half was extremely close for the majority of the period with six lead changes and three ties. The Mustangs opened on a 5-3 run. TAMIU quickly took the lead back at 7-2, only to have the advantage go back and forth for the next few minutes. WNMU managed to come out on top with a 15-11 lead. They pushed out to a 19-13 lead midway through the half before the Dustdevils rallied to tie things at 23-23 with five and half minutes left in the period. The Mustangs began to build some momentum as the half came to close, taking a 39-29 lead into the intermission.

In the second half, WNMU continued to use the momentum to their advantage, going up by their largest lead of the game at 52-37 with 12:38 remaining. However, TAMIU refused to die and slowly began to cut into the deficit. The pulled within six points at 57-51 with 7:50 left. The Mustangs countered by pushing back out to 66-55 with just under five minutes remaining. The comeback began in earnest from that point as the Dustdevils ripped off a 14-1 run to retake the lead 69-67 with just 20 seconds left. Unfortunately, a foul was called on TAMIU as WNMU's Malik Sanders went to shoot a three-pointer. Sanders made all three free throws to give the Mustangs a 70-69 lead. The Dustdevils inbounded the ball and called a time out with four seconds left. However, they couldn't get a shot to fall in the final moments, giving WNMU the win.

TAMIU will be back in action for the last time in 2019 on Saturday, Dec. 21 as they play host to UT Permian Basin at 3 p.m. in the KCB.