San Antonio–Latez Williams scored 14 points and pulled down 12 rebounds to key a big second half comeback as St. Mary’s University rallied from 10 points down to defeat previously undefeated Texas A&M University-Kingsville, 48-43, in non-conference men’s basketball action Tuesday night at Kleberg Bank Court.

The Rattlers struggled in the first half, hitting on just 8-of-30 shots from the field (26.7 percent), while the Javelinas made 39.3 percent of their shots to take a seven-point advantage at the break, 25-18.

The second half started off with the Javelinas expanding their lead to 10 at 30-20 with 17:19 left in the game on a layup by Adam Montalvo. However, the Rattlers started their rally with a three-point by Corey Harbert (Jr., San Antonio) to cut the deficit to seven at 30-23. Williams (Sr., Hamilton, Ohio) followed with a layup to make it a five-point game. After a basket for the Javelinas, the Rattlers responded with a three-pointer by Rod Bellard (Jr., Beaumont), a short jumper by Dominique Richardson (Sr., San Antonio) and a Robert Owens (Jr., Oakwood) layup tied the game at 32-32.

The Javelinas retook the lead with a 7-2 run to make it 39-34 with 6:51 left. However, Williams and Allen Coleman (Sr., Corpus Christi) keyed a 14-4 run to end the game, giving the Rattlers their first win over the Javelinas since the 2004-05 season.

Williams posted his third double-double of the season with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Owens had eight points and nine rebounds, while Harbert added eight points. As a team the Rattlers hit on 35.2 percent (19-54) of their shots from the field and outrebounded the Javelinas 47-31.

With the win the Rattlers improved to 4-3 and have won three of their last four games. TAMUK fell to 5-1 on the season. St. Mary’s will be off for the next 11 days before returning to action against Paul Quinn College on December 15 at 7:30 p.m. at Bill Greehey Arena.

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