Jan. 22, 2004

Box Score

KINGSVILLE, Texas -- The West Texas A&M University Buffaloes were gored by the Texas A&M University-Kingsville Javlinas, 86-68, Thursday at Kingsville, Texas.

Senior forward Jason Campbell tied a career-high with a game-high 23 points, while sophomore guard Keenan Hooker added a career-high 12 points, including three 3-pointers. Sophomore guard Steve Jackson dished out a career-high seven assists for WTAMU, which has now lost two in a row after winning the previous seven games and fall to 10-6 overall and open Lone Star Conference South division play at 0-1.

TAMU-Kingsville, which won its fourth-straight, improves to 11-6 overall and 2-0 in LSC South action.

WTAMU shot a better percentage from the floor, 59.5 percent to 50.0 percent, and were only outrebounded, 27-24, but the Buffs committed a season-high 30 turnovers. WTAMU's leading scorer, senior guard Rod Prater was held to a season-low eight points. Fellow senior guard Eduardo Caviglia, the Buffs' second-leading scorer didn't even attempt a shot and was held to zero points.

The loss was the Buffs' fourth-straight both at Kingsville and overall to the Javelinas. WTAMU still leads the overall series, 27-17, with the rematch at Canyon, Texas on Feb. 21 at the WTAMU Event Center.

Thursday night, the game was close for the first seven minutes, as there were four ties and six lead changes, as the Buffs took a 12-10 lead with 13:37 left in the first half on a layup by junior forward Carlos Silva.

The Javelinas then erupted for a 16-2 run, capped by a jumper from Remi Yusuf with 7:38 left in the first half to make the score 26-12.

The deficit climbed to 45-22 with 1:40 until halftime on a pair of free throws by TAMU-K's Jamie Barnett. The Javelinas took a 47-27 lead into haltime.

The second half was much of the same, as TAMU-K extended its lead to 28 points several times, before WTAMU closed the gap to 80-65 with 1:23 to play on one-of-two free throws by Hooker.

Erik Webb drained a trey with 14 seconds left to make it 83-65 before Campbell hit a trey with four seconds left to make the score 83-68. Eduardo Lopez hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the scoreboard read the palindromic score of 86-68.

The Javelinas had four players in double-figures, led by Barnett and Will Brown with 19 points apiece, followed by Robert Hamilton's 12 points and Yusuf's 11 points.

WTAMU continues its road trip on Saturday at Commerce, Texas, against Texas A&M University-Commerce in a 4 p.m. contest. The Lions are 9-8, after losing their second-straight game, dropping a 55-52 contest to Eastern New Mexico University Thursday.