January 13, 2007
San Antonio – Jarvis Lee led four Rattlers scoring in double figures with 23 points and St. Mary’s University shot a sizzling 60.7 percent from the field to defeat Dallas Baptist, 85-80, in Heartland Conference men’s basketball action Saturday afternoon at Bill Greehey Arena.
With the win the Rattlers moved into a tie for first place in the Heartland Conference with a 2-0 HC record and an 8-6 overall mark. St. Mary’s has also won four straight games. DBU fell to 4-10, 1-3. St. Mary’s will return to action on Monday when they host the University of the Incarnate Word in the second game of a women’s/men’s doubleheader at Bill Greehey Arena. The women will take the court at 5:30 p.m., followed by the men at 7:30 p.m.
Lee (Sr., Houston) was red-hot for the Rattlers in the first half, helping St. Mary’s to a nine-point edge at the break. He hit his first three-pointer of the game at the 16:56 mark to give the Rattlers a 6-2 edge. He gave the Rattlers a 12-10 lead with his second trey of the game at the 13:50 mark. The next possession he nailed another three-pointer. Less than two minutes later he hit on three-pointers in three straight possessions to expand the Rattler lead to 11 at 28-17 with 10:11 to play. With 10:11 left to play in the first half Lee had 18 points and six three-point baskets! Marcus Hill (So., Longview) got into the act with his second three pointer in the final minute, and then followed with a layup to give the Rattlers the 11-point edge at halftime.
St. Mary’s quickly expanded their lead to 15 points on a Hill steal and layup and a Dominique Richardson (Jr., San Antonio) layup 30 seconds later. However the Patriots started to chip away at the Rattler lead after that. Justin Pinckney hit on back-to-back shots to cut the St. Mary’s lead to less than 10 points. The run finished when Dwight Coleman hit a driving layup with 9:17 left to play to complete a 19-8 run, cutting the lead to 58-54. However the Rattlers responded with baskets on their next two possessions to get the lead back up to eight points and held off the stubborn Patriots for the win.
Jawan Bailey (Jr., San Antonio) joined Lee in double figures with 13 points and six rebounds off the bench. Hill and Latez Williams (Jr., Hamilton, Ohio) each added 10 points. Richardson had six points and seven assists.
As a team the Rattlers hit on 34-of-56 shots from the field and 9-of-16 shots from three-point range (56.3). DBU made 55.6 percent (30-54) of their shots from the field. St. Mary’s was called for 23 fouls, to just 14 for the Patriots in the game. DBU hit on 15-of-22 shots from the free throw line. St. Mary’s only had 13 attempts in the game.