Box Score Box Score

THE RUNDOWN
AUSTIN, Texas – LANDON GOESLING scored 27 of his career-high 35 points in the second half leading St. Edward's University to a 107-92 win over Oklahoma Christian Thursday at the RCC.
 
Goesling, the Heartland Conference's leading scorer, led SEU (15-7, 5-5) over the Eagles (7-13, 4-5) by hitting 12-of-22 shots from the floor. And, Goesling, the nation's leader in free throws made, was at it again with a perfect 9-for-9 night at the charity stripe.
 
107 points came with a season-high 27 assists for SEU, the eighth-best single-game total in school history, led by SEAN WATKINS' nine. CORY MCKENDREE had 11 points and 11 boards, JAMES TAYLOR tied a career high with 21 points off the bench and COREY SHERVILL scored 14.
 
St. Edward's shot just 42 percent in the first half, and the Hilltoppers were trailing 38-30 with 3:19 left. However, SEU surged for 15 points in the final 3:07 – including six from Taylor – and CORY MCKENDREE tipped in a missed shot by DORIAN LOPEZ at the buzzer to cut the OC lead to two points at intermission, 47-45.

In the second half, it remained a back-and-forth contest until Watkins broke a 70-all tie on a layup with 10:08 remaining. From there, the Hilltoppers never looked back. SEU shot 59.4 percent from the floor in the second frame and made 21-of-24 free-throw attempts to seal its ninth victory at home on the season.

OC's Jordan Box scored 33 points and Elijah Strickland added 25 in the losing effort for the Eagles.
 
HIGHLIGHTS
• SEU recorded a season-high 27 assists, which tied for the eighth-highest single-game total in school history.
• SEU's 107 points were tied for third-best this season.
• LANDON GOESLING surpassed the 30-point mark for the third time this season with a career-high 35 on 12-of-22 shooting.
• Goesling went 9-for-9 from the free-throw line to give him 173 for the season, which passes DeNell Davis (169, 1983-84) for the second-highest single-season free-throws made total in school history; he is nine away from the overall record (181, RAMIR BURTON, 2016-17).
• Goesling now has 30 career games with double-digit points and 21 this season.
• Goesling's 34^th of 35 points gave him 750 for his career (73 with Appalachian State).
• CORY MCKENDREE collected his first double-double since Nov. 14 with 11 points and 11 boards.
• McKendree now has 12 career games with double-digit points (six this season) and six career contests with 10 or more rebounds (five this season).
• McKendree now has three career double-doubles, all coming this season.
• McKendree's first of 11 boards was the 300^th of his career.
• JAMES TAYLOR hit a career-high 10-of-13 shots from the floor and matched a career and season-high 21 points (sixth time to reach this total).
• Taylor's 16^th of 21 points was his 750^th career point.
• SEAN WATKINS had 12 points and nine assists giving the senior 28 career games with 10 or more points and a dozen this season.
• Corey Sherville hit 10-of-11 free throws on the way to 14 points, which marks the sixth time this season he's scored in double figures.
 
STAT OF THE GAME I
48 – The Hilltoppers bench outscored the Eagles' reserves 48-20.
 
STAT OF THE GAME I
.493 – SEU's field goal percentage was the second highest against a Heartland Conference opponent, second only to a .541 mark vs. St. Mary's Dec. 6.

THEY SAID IT
SEU Head Coach Andre Cook on the largest home crowd of the season …
"They were great. There were a lot of students there and I appreciate all of them. I think it starts with our baseball team. You saw probably about half their guys there. They're great kids and they open up their season tomorrow. We're excited to see them and all our other students. The band was great, the cheerleaders were fantastic, and you know, you wish you could tell them all that that is such a big boom for our team. You know, to have them there, it gives the guys great energy to want to play for them. We have not been able to play in front of our students in almost two months. It's hard to believe that. We have four more home games left. It was great to see them out tonight."
 
Cook on closing the first half strong …
"I thought CORY MCKENDREE, at the end of the first half gave us a big [boost], the threes weren't going in, we had a bad percentage in the first half. They played almost exclusively zone, but I thought Cory gave us great energy. That tip in at the buzzer only made us down two when they really out played us the whole first half."
 
Cook on sharing the basketball …
"Against [TAMIU Saturday], we weren't at our best with that. It was kind of a struggle game; you know struggle to make baskets. Always tough to play in Laredo. When we are at our best [and] when we are flowing on offense, the ball is moving, the guys are stepping up making shots, the ball's going from one side of the court to the other, and we're pretty good when we do. Obviously, we have [LANDON GOESLING] who scored 35 and 27 in the second half. That gives us energy [and] gives confidence to everybody else."
 
Junior guard LANDON GOESLING on SEU's bigs contributing in a big way …
"Cory [McKendree] is definitely one of our energy guys and when he plays well it feels like the whole team is playing well. You saw the tip in at the end of the first half; that was huge. I think he ended with 11-11 so that's huge for us. James [Taylor], we all know he can score the ball, but he came up big with some rebounds today and when he's doing that, it makes our entire team play better."
 
WHAT'S NEXT
St. Edward's resumes conference play in Austin Saturday vs. Newman at 3 p.m.