KINGSVILLE, Texas â€" Despite a late run to close the gap, the Texas Lutheran men's basketball team had its four-game winning streak snapped on the road Wednesday by Texas A&M-Kingsville.
 
The 75-71 loss snapped the Bulldogs' longest winning streak in two years and moved their record to 5-3 on the year. The win improved the Javelinas' record to 5-7.
 
Garrett Wilkins (Austin, Texas) led the way for the Bulldogs, scoring 15 points on 5-of-13 shooting. Wilkins, TLU's leading scorer, has now scored in double figures in all eight games this season.
 
Thomas Verm (Sealy, Texas) and Robert Watson Jr. (Corpus Christi, Texas) were the other two Bulldogs to reach double-digit scoring. Verm, a junior, chipped in 12 points to go along with two rebounds and two assists, while Watson Jr. scored 10 and led the team with five rebounds.
 
Rashad Basey was the offensive leader for Texas A&M-Kingsville, scoring a game-high 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting while also pulling down eight rebounds.
 
The Bulldogs shot well from the field, shooting almost 42 percent on the night. It was the defensive end that hurt them as the Javelinas shot almost 50 percent.
 
One thing the Bulldogs did do well on defense was force turnovers with the Javelinas recording 23 on the night. Wilkins played a big role in that, notching a career-high six steals. TLU scored 27 points off those 23 turnovers.
 
The first half was one of runs with the Javelinas scorings the game's first seven points and jumping out to a 19-11 lead less than nine minutes into the game.
 
The Bulldogs answered that run though, taking their first lead of the game after an 11-2 streak. That run was keyed by three 3-pointers -- two coming from Jordan Kouremetis and one from Wilkins. Kouremetis would finish the game with eight points, all of them coming in the first half.
 
The three-point shot was huge for the Bulldogs in the first half after making 5-of-11 from behind the arc while holding the Javelins to just three 3-pointers in the opening 20 minutes.
 
After Texas Lutheran took the lead, the Javelinas answered back with 11 straight points to open up a double-digit lead 33-23. They eventually stretched the lead to as large as 13 before the Bulldogs scored the last five points of the half, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer by Kendall Holmes to send TLU to the locker room down 41-33.
 
Texas A&M-Kingsville scored the first six points of the second half to extend the lead back out to 12 and kept pulling away, eventually increasing the lead to as many as 20 with 13 minutes left.
 
The Bulldogs would close the game on a 12-3 run to get within four, but the Joseph Richardson 3-pointer that cut the deficit to four would come with just four seconds left. The Javelinas ran the rest of the clock out to come away with the win.
 
Texas Lutheran will not play again until after Christmas when it will travel to Plainview, Texas to take on both Dallas Christian and host Wayland Baptist in the Wayland Baptist Holiday Classic. The Bulldogs will face off against Dallas Christian at 6 p.m. Friday, Dec. 27 before playing Wayland Baptist at 3 p.m. the next day. Live video and live stats will be available via TLUBulldogs.com.