INCARNATE WORD 68, TEXAS A&M-KINGSVILLE 65
Incarnate Word's Deleon Hines and Shaun Umeh took over the game late on Saturday afternoon and the Cardinals won a Lone Star Conference South Division tussel with a narrow 68-65 win at Texas A&M-Kingsville.
The victory pushed UIW, ranked 12th in the nation for Division II, to 13-1 on the year and 2-0 in the South. Kingsville fell to 5-9 and 0-2.
Incarnate Word trailed 59-57 at the 3:15 mark of the second half when the twosome went to work.
Hines gathered in an errant Javelinas shot and was fouled. He made two free throws to knot the game. The next UIW possession he fed Umeh for a three-pointer and the Cardinals went up 62-61. Umeh made a two for 64-62 margin before Hines blocked a shot and Umeh was fouled on the rebound. He made both at the line and UIW led 66-65 with 13 seconds remaining. Hines made two more at the line for the final margin of 68-65.
It took one more effort for Incarnate Word however. TAMUK had the ball with 10 seconds to go when Kelcey Solomon blocked a final three-point attempt to preserve the win.
All of the late heroics were a cover up for a first half that was not a pretty sight.
The Cardinals trailed most of the initial 20 minutes before a buzzer-beating jump shot by Eric Steward gave UIW a 28-27 lead in the locker room. Incarnate Word had 11 turnovers in the first half--they finished the game with 16. The Cardinals played the first 12 minutes and scored but 13 points. They shot 37.5 per cent from the field including being 0-9 on three's. The one bright spot however was a perfect 10-10 performance at the line.
But all of that did not matter when Hines and Umeh got their highlight show going late. Incarnate Word scored 11 points in those last 3:15. Hines had six and Umeh five.
Hines, playing off the bench had 18 points to tie Stewart for the team lead. His total included those four consecutive free three throws in the last two minutes. Umeh scored 17 as the third and only other Cardinal in double points.
Next up for Incarnate Word is a January 19 trip to Stephenville for an 8 p.m. tipoff at Tarleton State.
