SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The St. Edward's Men's Basketball team dropped an 86-57 contest to longtime rival St. Mary's Saturday afternoon at Bill Greehey Arena. The good news is, even with the loss, the Hilltoppers retain first place as they are tied with UT-Permian Basin for tops in the Heartland Conference.
 
After St. Mary's (8-7, 5-3 HC) raced out to a quick 4-0 lead, St. Edward's (14-2, 6-2 HC) fought back with layups by FRANKIE MGBOLU and HARLEY NUSSMAN to knot the score with 17:49 on the clock.
 
Mgbolu and Nussman kept the Hilltoppers within one for the first five minutes of action, but the Kriston Minor got hot for the Rattlers. The guard scored 10 points over the next four minutes as St. Mary's went on a 14-3 spurt to take a 12-point lead, with 11:13 left in the first half.
 
The lead would swell to as many as 30 points down the stretch in the opening frame as the Rattlers shot 53 percent from the floor compared to just 29 percent by St. Edward's.
 
In the second half, St. Edward's played almost even with the Rattlers with the home team only outscoring the visitors, 36-34, but St. Mary's shot even better in the second half at 57 percent from the field to prevent any Hilltopper rally.
 
Nussman led the Hilltoppers with 17 points and a game-high seven rebounds. Mgbolu added nine points and JAE RICKETTS added eight points off of the bench.
 
The Hilltoppers will look to respond Thursday when they take on Oklahoma Panhandle State at the Recreation and Convocation Center. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. Live coverage will be available via the St. Edward's Athletic Website.
 
                                             Heartland           Overall
Team (Preseason)                 W-L                   W-L
St. Edward's (9)                       6-2                    14-2
UT-Permian Basin (4)              6-2                    11-5
Lubbock Christian* (6)             5-2                     8-6
St. Mary's (2)                           5-3                     8-7
Dallas Baptist (7)                     4-3                    10-5
Rogers State* (5)                     4-4                    10-6
UA Fort Smith (1)                     4-4                     8-8
Newman (8)                             3-4                     7-6
TAMU-International (3)            3-5                     8-8
Panhandle State (11)              1-6                    3-12
Oklahoma Christian* (10)        1-7                    3-11
 
SCHEDULE/RESULTS
January 17
DBU 60, OC 53
LCU 71, UAFS 63
STMU 86, SEU 57
RSU 96, OPSU 55
UTPB 60, TAMIU 58
 
January 19
DBU at NU                                     4:00 PM
LCU at OPSU                                7:30 PM
 
January 22
OPSU at SEU                                7:30 PM
TAMIU at STMU                            7:30 PM
NU at UAFS                                  7:30 PM
OC at RSU                                    7:30 PM
LCU at UTPB                                7:30 PM
 
January 24
DBU at STMU                               2:00 PM
OPSU at UTPB                             3:00 PM
NU at RSU                                    3:00 PM
LCU at SEU                                  3:00 PM
OC at UAFS                                  3:00 PM