KINGSVILLE, Texas – BLAKE NIELSEN banked in a near-halfcourt heave in the final seconds to cap off a chaotic comeback and deliver a 79-77 victory over the Texas A&M-Kingsville Javelinas to open the new year with two wins. 
 
GAVINO RAMOS led three Hilltoppers in double figures with 20 points and six assists, including seven points over the final four minutes as part of a 19-7 run for St. Edward's to overcome a 10-point deficit. 
 
BENNETT MOHN opened the game on fire for St. Edward's, draining four 3-pointers through the first seven minutes to keep the Hilltoppers afloat against an 8-for-11 start for Texas A&M-Kingsville. SEAN ELKINTON added seven points on five shots, but the Hilltoppers shot just 41.9 percent from the field, and the Javelinas utilized a balanced scoring attack to take a 40-34 lead at the break. 
 
Zyon Little and Marcus Jones-Green scored eight each at the break and Jason Clark added seven for a Texas A&M-Kingsville team that shot 16-for-32 in the first half. 
 
Ramos shook off first-half shooting struggles and teamed up with the bench to spark a 12-0 run nearly halfway through the second half, taking a 47-41 lead on a JAYDEN JOHNSTON 3-pointer with 12 minutes remaining. Texas A&M-Kingsville immediately responded in kind, reeling off an 11-0 run between Jones-Green, Jason Clark, and C.J. Smith. 
 
Smith found his rhythm for seven points over the next few minutes, and both teams got to the free-throw line six times over that span, with Smith giving the Javelinas a 70-60 lead going into the final media timeout with a little over four minutes remaining. 
 
Elkinton scored two layups on St. Edward's first two possessions coming out of the timeout, with the second coming off a feed from Ramos with 2:29 remaining. St. Edward's point guard took over down the stretch, scoring two layups, including an and-one, and three free throws, with an assist to Nielsen to give St. Edward's a 76-75 lead with 16 seconds left. 
 
Smith responded with a floater with six seconds remaining to put Texas A&M-Kingsville back up, but St. Edward's quickly inbounded the ball to Nielsen, who sprinted down the floor and heaved a final shot a few steps past midcourt to sink the Javelinas. 
 
Mohn finished with 17 points and three steals, hitting 4-for-7 from deep and 5-for-6 from the free-throw line. Elkinton added 16 points on 70 percent shooting. Nielsen had nine points, five assists, and three rebounds, and ALEU ALEU led the bench unit with eight points. 
 
Clark and Smith scored 16 each for the Javelinas, Jones-Green had 15, and Kendrick Washington rounded out their double-digit scorers with 11. 
 
St. Edward's improves to 11-4 with a 4-2 conference record. The Hilltoppers will return home to host UT Tyler on Thursday and Dallas Baptist on Saturday.