December 12, 2010
San Antonio – St. Mary’s Ray Marshall skated down the left sideline, set his feet and drained a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from the left wing Saturday.
The shot at the end of the first half wasn’t quite as eventful as the last time the Rattlers made a last-second 3, but it nevertheless helped the them roll past Dallas Christian College 74-55 at Bill Greehey Arena.
“You probably won’t see me ever shoot another 3 for the rest of the season,” joked Marshall, a junior post from El Paso, Texas. “I’ll be 100 percent for a while.”
Five Rattlers reached double figures in scoring, led by Marshall’s 13 points and six rebounds. Gordon Ward (Sr., Galveston, Texas) had a season-high 12 points, while Kevin Kotzur (So., La Vernia, Texas), Jeff Campbell (Jr., Allen Texas) and Jeremy Fonteneaux (Jr., DeSoto, Texas) all scored 10 apiece.
A total of Rattlers scored in the game.
The performance followed the epic 103-100 victory over Angelo State on Wednesday, a game St. Mary’s won in triple overtime on Josh Orta’s long, off-balance 3-pointer with a second remaining.
On Saturday, the Rattlers (6-4) made sure the game never got that close.
Spurred by a pair of first-half spurts, St. Mary’s held a commanding 32-18 halftime lead. After starting out cold from the floor, the Rattlers went on an 11-0 run to lead 11-5. Going cold yet again, D.J. Castro (So., El Paso, Texas) broke the spell by burying a long 2-pointer from the left corner. The shot put St. Mary’s up 13-9 with about 7:30 to go in the half, a lead the Rattlers would push to nine when Lamb Autrey (Jr., Cibolo, Texas) drained a 3-pointer from the opposite corner with 6:20 remaining in the half.
A little later came Marshall’s buzzer-beating 3, a shot that sent the Rattlers confidently into the half.
Though it took a few minutes for the Rattlers to find their touch, there was no stopping them once they did. St. Mary’s shot a staggering 60 percent from the floor, including 19 for 26 (73.1 percent) in the second half.
Orta (So., San Antonio) added 11 assists for the Rattlers.