Box Score Box Score

THE RUNDOWN
AUSTIN, Texas – St. Edward's snapped a four-game losing skid and ensured a spot in next weekend's Heartland Conference Tournament with a 77-63 win over Texas A&M-International at the RCC Wednesday. LANDON GOESLING scored 30 points, including a 13-for-14 performance at the free-throw line to lead the Hilltoppers (16-11, 6-9) in victory.
 
Out of the gate, St. Edward's dominated in the first half building 25-point leads on three different occasions. RYAN GARZA provided the early spark with 12 of his 13 points in the first half, all on four 3-point field goals. The Hilltoppers led 43-25 at the break, and although TAMIU (10-17, 3-12) outscored SEU 38-34 in the second half, the hole was too big to overcome.
 
Eight of the nine Heartland Conference teams earn spots in the Heartland Conference Tournament, held March 1-3 in Tulsa. SEU clinched at least the No. 7 seed, and the Hilltoppers need Rogers State to beat Oklahoma Christian Saturday at home to take the No. 6 seed in the tournament.
 

HIGHLIGHTS
• SEAN WATKINS moved to fourth all-time on the SEU career steals list with his second of three Wednesday; he passed ETHAN GILBERT (125, 2013-17).
• LANDON GOESLING scored 30 points on 7-of-12 shooting, including a 13-of-14 performance at the free-throw line; he has 35 career games with 10 or more points and 26 this season.
• Goesling moved to seventh on the SEU single-season list for points in a season with 608 passing DeNell Davis (599, 1983-84).
• Goesling, the SEU single-season record holder for free throws made in a season, is just 12 free throws shy of the Heartland Conference record of 217 set by Chris Mortellaro of Drury University in 2003-04.
• RYAN GARZA scored 13 points off the bench, including four 3-point field goals in the first half for his second double-figure scoring game of the season; Garza's last time to reach double figures game Nov. 14 vs. Southwestern (17).
• MATTHEW PATERSON's first of two points Wednesday was the 50^th of his career.
 
STAT OF THE GAME I
.365 – St. Edward's held Texas A&M-International to just a .365 shooting effort (19-52), the second lowest against a conference opponent this season.
 
THEY SAID IT
SEU head coach Andre Cook on snapping the losing streak …
"It's been two plus weeks since we've gotten a win. We've been knocking at the door though. We played well Saturday against a very good DBU team, so I felt like we were trending in the right direction. And, to jump out on International the way we did … the way they play, [we] kind of took them out of how they want to play, and basically stall every position and shorten the game. So, I was thrilled with the guys [and] was thrilled to see them smile. It's been awhile. We needed this win and was happy to get it."
 
Cook on moving towards the conference tournament …
We need to figure out what our rotation is, who can play off the bench, and how we're going to do that. It was great to see the shots go in for [RYAN GARZA]. We've moved him to the two for really the first time all year. We know he can shoot, he's just been struggling, but to see the ball go in, hopefully that will propel him for the last several weeks. So, that made me feel good. We're still trying to figure out our five position with three guys, but we're working at it. It was good to see Ryan give us a spark off the bench. We just have not shot it as well as we think we should and when we do, that's the team that you saw earlier in the year. When threes are going in and we got a little high power offense going."
 
WHAT'S NEXT
St. Edward's closes the regular season Saturday with a Homecoming crowd expected vs. Lubbock Christian at 3 p.m. at SEU's Recreation and Convocation Center.