LAREDO, Texas – Texas A&M International men's basketball (1-9, 1-6 LSC) took down Oklahoma Christian (1-8, 1-8 LSC) in a 81-68 rout for the first win of the Mac McConnell Era on Monday.

This is the first win over the Eagles since defeating them 58-53 on Jan. 17, 2019, and the first win over a Lone Star Conference opponent since defeating Eastern New Mexico 76-71 on Jan. 23, 2020.

Four Dustdevils finished in double-digits in the win. Junior Tre Thomas led TAMIU with a season-high 23 points to go along with five rebounds, two assists and two steals. Senior Matija Novkovic posted 16 points with two rebounds and an assist. Freshman Anthony Scott finished two rebounds shy of a double-double with 12 points and eight rebounds as well as eight assists. Sophomore Darian Gibson contributed 11 points with three rebounds and an assist.

OC started hot as they opened the game on an 8-2 run. However, the Dustdevils steadied themselves and fought back to tie things at 11 and then tore off a 16-5 run of their own to take a 27-16 advantage. From there, TAMIU took control finishing the half on a 13-5 run, pushing the margin to 40-21 headed into the intermission.

The Dustdevils continued to dominate in the second half as they pushed out to their largest lead of the game at 63-36 with 10 minutes left. However, the Eagles refused to die and slowly began to fight their way back into the game with a 12-4 run to trim the deficit to 71-52. They continued to chip away at the lead, but came up short as TAMIU held on to take the 81-68 victory.

The two teams will face off one more time tomorrow in the series finale with tip-off slated for 2 p.m.