Dustdevils Triumph over Rattlers

            It was an exciting night for the Texas A&M International University Dustdevils on Jan. 27, 2010. The TAMIU Men's basketball team took their victory over St. Mary's University Rattlers. The game took place at the TAMIU Kinesiology-Convocation Building at 8:00 p.m. This was the most occupied event of the season thus far and created a new record of fan turnout. A roaring 845 fans filled the gym and praised and hollered for TAMIU's victory. Mr. and Ms. TAMIU also joined the game and showed their support for our Dustdevils. Along with a special ceremony at half-time, honoring TAMIU's Men's Soccer Team for their winning the 2010 Heartland Conference Championship. Tactics and speed brought victory and honor to our university and to the Athletics' Department. The finals score, which brought our Dustdevils victory, was 79-69.

            The game started off with our Dustdevils in the lead with 10 to 6 at the 15:03 mark. The game went on with the Dustdevils keeping St. Mary at bay and making sure that if St. Mary's took the lead, the Dustdevils would come back with a lead. However, a number of fouls occurred that night, which brought a bulk of the points to our side. The fans showed their support for the Dustdevils by silencing themselves, when one of our players was making a shot. They also hooted and hollered at St. Mary's to try and distract them from making shots.

Fans brought out a lot of confidence in the boys. With their confidence high, they were sure not to let the fans down and score. However, during the end of the first period, the opposing team seemed to steam ahead of the Dustdevils. Half- time seemed to allow the Dustdevils to cool off and regain some of the confidence that was lost. With the opposing team ahead, and the fans cheering for the home side, the Dustdevils had a lot on their minds.

Outside on the court, the TAMIU Men's Soccer Team was being honored for winning the 2010 Heartland Conference Championship. The team showed up with their finest clothes and appeared so humbled and honored to be receiving their championship rings from their coaches. The coaches were honored as well as the team. Dr. Ray M. Keck III, President for Texas A & M International University, spoke words of gratitude and praise to the coaches and to the team. The coaches were presented a plaque and the team received their championship rings, as well as a banner commemorating their win. As half-time ended, the teams both came out and proceeded to warm back up and get back into the game.

The Rattlers were ahead by ten points in the beginning of the second part of the game. Yet, the boys went back out there and tried to slow them down from making any more scores. The band played to keep the crowd and the boys' spirits up. It seemed to work because later on during the final minutes of the game, the crowd began to chant "Na Na Na Na, Na Na Na Na, Hey Hey Hey, Goodbye!" as the chanting grew louder and continuous, the band chimed in with the music to back them up. All the chanting and hollering boosted the team up and towards the end of the game; they were in the lead 79 to 69.

The honoring of the men's soccer team and the victory over St. Mary's seemed to boost the confidence of not only the team members and coaches, but to the fans, who cheered and supported our basketball team and showed them that they are appreciated.