Matthew (Moose) Lopez
Managing Editor
History was made at Texas A&M University-San Antonio Oct. 28 when both women’s and men’s basketball tipped off their first official game.
Since joining the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) in the fall of 2020, A&M-San Antonio has competed in the Red River Athletic Conference with the university’s current soccer, softball and golf programs.
For their first basketball game, both the men’s and women’s teams played the Southern University- New Orleans Knights.
Women’s team overcome the Knights in the fourth
From the way the stands “oo-ed” and “aah-ed,” it was obvious A&M-San Antonio had been starving for a basketball team. .
From the jump, the pace of the women’s game was swift. No possession lasted longer than 10 seconds.
Head Coach Chris Minner said his style of play is to outpace the other team. Minner said if you can out–condition your opponent, then you can beat them.
“Everything we do in practice is on the run…We want to wear teams down,” Minner said. “We figure if you get tired you’re not going to defend well, you’re not going to rebound well; we want to control the tempo of the game.”
As much as the Lady Jags controlled the pace of the game, their defense absolutely made the second half.
Spurred on by the crowd, the Jags played with an intense pace in the third quarter, forcing New Orleans to match their energy level.
The Jags carried that momentum into the fourth and took the lead on a corner three from guard/forward Maya Simon, who then got a chase–down block on the other end. The team never looked back after that.
A&M-San Antonio went on a scoring flurry while stringing together consistent stops on the other end.
Lady Jags won their first–ever home basketball game 89-73.
Simon said Coach Minner empowers her to take those shots and move freely on the court.
“Coach always tells us we have the green light, [and] he’s not going to take it away,” Simon said. “Me making that shot was just a big relief because we needed that momentum to keep pushing and the crowd got crazy… After that block, everything was just in sync.”
Point guard Evelyn Lorenzo said once the team calmed down during halftime, everything on the court became easier.
“We settled in a little more and we were able to actually rotate better on defense,” Lorenzo said. “It allowed us to get steals, easy layups and open shots on the other end.”
Lorenzo also scored the first point in A&M-San Antonio basketball history. But for the point guard, it was about starting a legacy, not the individual accolades.
“We’re the team to set the standard, so we want to have higher expectations for the teams after us,” Lorenzo said. “We want to be the first team to cut down the net and to win a ring…this year not next year.”
Men’s team falls to the Knights
Like the women’s team, the audience’s energy never waivered for the Jaguars.
In the first half of the men’s game, the Jaguars struggled to keep up offensively. The Knights’ defense pressured A&M-San Antonio into turning over the ball 10 times.
Despite the turnovers, the Jags made a 13-point comeback, tying the game 23-23 at the 10-minute mark of the 1st half, which ended in 41-48.
The synergy picked up in the second half as fans cheered on the men to make a comeback.
Just when the Jaguars were closing the gap, SUNO pushed A&M-San Antonio into making more turnovers and denied them offensive rebounds.
The men’s team lost their first game with a final score of 86-75.
The first point made for the men’s inaugural game was made by Journee Phillips, when he forced his way to the basket for a layup and was fouled.
Coach Dial ran this play for Phillips to get to the paint and make the Knights bite to force shooting fouls so he could get attempts for free throws.
Phillips ended the game with 30 points.
“I was proud of Journee. He had a great game. It’s a special moment for him being a Southeast side kid,” Dial said.
Head Coach Dial planned to pressure the Knights and get the rebounds and win putbacks on the home opener for the men’s game.
“We wanted to push the tempo, play faster than they did, win rebounds and win paint touches, but we didn’t play like that tonight,” Dial said. “I wanted to see great effort and play with a lot of energy in front of an energetic crowd.”
Dial was impressed by the fan turnout on both the women’s and men’s first inaugural game.
“I felt like I was a fan as well. I was a kid that grew up South of I-10, and you couldn’t have gone to an indoor event like this with men’s and women’s basketball on this side of town,” Dial said. “My son was in the stands tonight, and I was just happy that today was a reality.”
The next men’s basketball game will be Nov. 6 against Texas Southern University in Houston. The next women’s basketball game will be on Nov. 4 against Beaumont.
