LAREDO, Texas – Texas A&M International men's basketball dropped its third consecutive LSC contest, falling in another defensive slugfest, 55-48 to St. Edward's.
 
The Hilltoppers (12-10, 5-6 LSC) got the upper hand early, opening the game on a 9-2 run.
 
TAMIU (11-8, 3-5 LSC) responded with a 9-0 run of their own and took a lead momentarily at 11-9.
 
For the remainder of the half, the teams battled back-and-forth to the tune of a 22-21 halftime score in favor of St. Edward's.
 
Out of the break, the Hilltoppers jumped ahead by 11 after a 10-0 run in the opening 3:09.
 
The Dustdevils then trimmed the lead to four with 11:25 remaining, 36-32, the closest they came until making it a one-point game, 43-42 with 4:43 remaining.
 
Unfortunately, St. Edward's would outscore TAMIU 12-6 over that remaining time to seal the victory.
 
In the loss, the Dustdevils shot 19-for-45 (42.2%) from the floor, but were just 3-for-12 (25%) from behind the arc and 7-for-13 from the free-throw line.
 
On the other end, the Hilltoppers shot just 38%, going 19-for-50 and just 3-for-21 (14.3%) from deep, but made 14 of 18 attempts at the charity stripe.
 
Junior La-Quiem Walker scored a game-high 15 points with five rebounds.
 
Senior Greg Bowie II and junior Jermaine Drewey followed with eight points and seven points respectively.
 
TAMIU now preps for a long week, with three road games on tap. The first contest takes place in Lubbock, Texas on Tuesday, Feb. 8 against #1 Lubbock Christian. Opening tip is scheduled for 6 p.m.