LAREDO, Texas – Texas A&M International men's basketball had an opportunity in the final seconds to tie the game, but came up short, dropping its first Lone Star Conference matchup to Oklahoma Christian 63-61.
 
It was a quiet first half offensively as the score was tied 11-11 halfway through the first half.
 
The Eagles (6-11, 3-4 LSC) the used a quick 5-0 run to take a 16-11 lead and held the at its height of six points, 24-18, with 3:14 remaining.
 
Over the final 2:46, the Dustdevils (10-4, 2-1 LSC) uses a 9-2 run to take a 27-26 lead into the locker room.
 
Oklahoma Christian opened the second half regaining the lead, but TAMIU took over the edge and held it until the Eagles tied it 36-36 with 14:49 remaining.
 
That run at the time was 3-0 and grew to 10-0 as Oklahoma Christian opened up an eight-point lead with 13:05 remaining.
 
The Dustdevils responded with a 6-0 run to cut the deficit to two, but could never regain an edge and again dropped behind by eight points with 2:48 remaining.
 
TAMIU used a 9-2 down the stretch to cut the deficit to 62-61 with 26 seconds left and the Eagles would hit one of two free-throws with eight seconds remaining.
 
With a chance at the end to tie the game, the Dustdevils came up short, falling 63-61.
 
On the night, TAMIU shot just 19-of-54 (35.2%) from the floor and 7-for-23 (30.4%) from deep. The Dustdevils did convert 16 of 22 chances at the free-throw line.
 
The Eagles, on the other hand, shot 20-for-38 (52.6%), were just 3-for-9 from deep and made 20 of 31 from the charity stripe.
 
Freshman Journee Phillips was the lone Dustdevil in double figures, scoring 15 points and securing eight rebounds.
 
Freshman Tiras Morton followed with nine points, eight rebounds and four steals, while junior Jermaine Drewey also scored nine points.
 
TAMIU looks to turn the tide when it hosts UAFS on Saturday, Jan. 22. Opening tip from the KCB is scheduled for 3 p.m.