San Antonio – Nick Morey scored a season-high 20 points as St. Mary’s University built up a big first half lead, but 20 turnovers and just eight second half field goals allowed Angelo State University to rally for a 65-60 win against the Rattlers in men’s basketball action Tuesday night at Bill Greehey Arena.

Morey (Sr., Belpre, Ohio) hit on 4-of-7 shots from the field and all 12 of his free throws to score a game-high 20 points. His 12 free throws in a single game tied the St. Mary’s Division II school record and his 12-of-12 night at the line was a new school record for free throw percentage in a game. But after Morey fouled out with 2:37 left to play, the Rattlers offense went into hibernation, failing to score another point.

St. Mary’s played a near-perfect first half, shooting 59.1 percent from the field (13-22) and hitting on 9-of-10 shots from the free throw line. They also outrebounded the Rams 18-14. Morey had 14 points in the first half, hitting on all three shots from the field and all eight shots from the free throw line. Despite ASU scoring the final three points of the half, the Rattlers still led by seven, 36-29, at the break.

But in the second half the Rattlers struggled to find any offensive consistency, hitting on just 34.1 percent of their shots (8-23). They committed nine turnovers in the second half and forced just two turnovers. After back-to-back jumpers by Lorenzo Anthony (Sr., San Antonio) and Morey gave the Rattlers an 11-point edge at 40-29, ASU rallied. Over the next seven minutes the Rams went on a 16-5 run to tie the game at 45-45.

From there the teams battled back and forth with seven ties and nine lead changes in the final 10 minutes of the game. Derrick Webster finally gave the Rams the lead for good with two free throws with 2:46 left to play and the Rattlers did not hit a shot from the field in the final 3:53 of the game.

Morey was the only Rattler to score in double figures in the game. Darren Lee (Jr., Stockton, Calif.) had nine points and Aaron Thomas (Fr., San Antonio) came off the bench to score eight second half points. Ryan Bennett led a trio of Rams scoring in double figures with 15 points.

With the loss the Rattlers fell to 3-4 on the season, while Angelo State improved to 4-0. The Rattlers will be off for the next 15 days until they face Huston-Tillotson University on Dec. 17 at 7:30 p.m. in Bill Greehey Arena.

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