Curtis Mitchell scored 19 points, while Kevin Kotzur added 14 points, helping St. Mary's University to an easy 76-56 victory over St. Edward's University on the first day of the Heartland Conference Men's Basketball Tournament, Thursday night at Bill Greehey Arena.
After leading by 13 points at the half, St. Mary's saw the Hilltoppers cut their lead to just 10 points on a 3-pointer by Jannik Zimmer with 18:45 left to play. However the Rattlers responded with a 12-0 run over the next four minutes to take a commanding 22-point lead at 52-30 with 14:47 left. From there, the Rattler never led by less than 15 points and cruised to the easy win.
The Rattlers took control of the game right from the start. D.J. Castro (Fr., El Paso, Texas) came off the bench to score five points, keying a 15-4 St. Mary's run to start the game. That lead would expand to as much as 18 points thanks to 11 first-half points by Curtis Mitchell (Sr., Milwaukee). The Rattlers shot 51.7 percent (15-29) from the field and outrebounded the Hilltoppers 23-12 in the first period.
Mitchell led all players with 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field. He also added 5 assists and 4 rebounds. Kotzur (Fr., La Vernia, Texas) scored 14 points and added 9 rebounds, just missing out on a double-double. D.J. Castro (Fr., El Paso, Texas) and Gordon Ward (Jr., Galveston, Texas) each added 11 points in the victory.
St. Mary's made 49.1 percent (28-57) of its shots from the field, including 54.5 percent (6-11) from 3-point range. The Rattlers outrebounded the Hilltoppers 46-25.
With the win St. Mary's improved to 16-12 this season and broke a three-game losing streak. St. Edward's fell to 12-16 and saw its season come to an end. The Rattlers will return to action on Friday at 7:30 p.m. when they face second seed Newman University in the Heartland Conference Tournament semifinals at Bill Greehey Arena. The game will be broadcast live over the internet at CollegeTVTicket.com.