LAREDO, Texas – Texas A&M-International men's basketball fell to St. Mary's at home 62-57 on Thursday after giving up 14 points at the charity stripe, 10 of which came in the second half.
The two teams traded baskets for the entirety of the first half. Senior
Jermaine Drewey hit a 3 12 minutes into the game to give the Dustdevils (12-9, 5-8 LSC) a five-point lead but the rest of the first half was within one possession either side.
The Rattlers (10-8, 7-6 LSC) started to struggle in the opening moments of the second half, allowing TAMIU to go on a 10-2 run in the first four minutes with a pair of permitter shots from Drewey and Sophomore
Tiras Morton.
St. Mary's slowly battled its way back into the game and with 12 minutes left tied the game at 41-41. The Rattlers scored the go-ahead bucket one minute later and never trailed the rest of the way.
The largest lead came after a layup gave St. Mary's a 60-53 lead with 2:53 left.
Junior
John Achebe converted a layup with a minute and a half left to cut it to a one-possession game, but two fouls and two turnovers allowed the Dustdevils to get up two field goals in the final stretch of the game, both of which missed the mark.
Junior
Tyrese Davis led TAMIU with 13 points. Drewey added 11 and dished out a team-high three assists.
Morton finished the game with nine points and eight boards.
The Dustdevils shot 18 of 49 (36.7%) from the field and 7 of 17 (41.2%) from 3. The Rattlers shot 26 of 46 (56.5%) from the field and 2 of 9 (22.2%) from long range.
St. Mary's scored 12 of their points on the fast break.
TAMIU will be in action next at 3 p.m. on Saturday at home against St. Edward's (15-7, 9-3 LSC).