Box Score Season Statistics CANYON, Texas – The West Texas A&M men's basketball team dropped just its second contest at home this season as it fell to No. 14 Angelo State, 88-60, in Lone Star Conference action on Wednesday night at the First United Bank Center (FUBC) in Canyon. With the loss, the Buffs fall to 10-6 and 1-2 in league play while the Rams improve to 14-1 (2-0, LSC), extending their winning streak now to nine games.
Leading the way for WT was senior
Antjuan Ball with 13 points, even after sitting much of the second half due to foul trouble and picking up his fifth with 5:22 remaining. He added four rebounds. Fellow senior
Tez Dumars poured in 11 points with three boards, one assist, and a steal.
Chris Jones led all scorers with 18 points on the night for the Rams. Five scored in double-figures for ASU.
The Buffs found themselves outrebounded 42-27 in the game and were outscored in the paint 38-22. WT finished shooting 22-for-54 (.407) from the floor compared to 31-for-56 (.554) for the Rams.
The Buffs opened up with the game's first two buckets to grab an early 4-0 lead. Freshman
Carl White drained a long jumper just inside the arc on WT's second possession. He powered through two defenders to grab a rebound on the opposite end leading to a fast-break layup by Dumars. That would help the Buffs to an 8-2 game-opening run as Dumars laid in another bucket followed by a tip-in by freshman
Jeff Bonner.
After the under-16 media timeout, ASU strolled to a 9-1 run making the score 17-12 at 12:24. The Rams would grab their first lead of the ball game with a 3-pointer by Tommy Woolridge before Raijon Kelly followed with a fast-break tip-in to force head coach
Tom Brown to call a timeout on the WT bench.
WT continued to hang with the Rams in rebounding early on, trailing just 10-8 in the category heading into the under-eight media timeout. After a big dunk by Ball and triple by Chavlovich the Buffs found themselves down 24-19 with 7:57 on the clock.
Following through the pause in play, ASU rolled to an 18-4 run to go up on 39-23 on the scoreboard forcing another WT timeout at 5:20. That included six-straight buckets for the visitors within a five-minute span.
ASU managed to take a 21-point lead heading into halftime as they went up 46-25 over the Buffs after 20 minutes of play. They closed the half scoring 20 of the final 23 points and went 19-for-32 (.594) from the field and 5-for-9 (.556) from beyond the arc. The Buffs went into the break shooting 10-for-24 (.417) from the field.
Leading the way for WT at the half was Dumars with nine points. He went 4-for-6 from the floor with a rebound and a steal. Demario Mayfield led all scorers with 13 at the break while teammate Jones found himself in double figures as well with 11 points.
Both teams traded buckets consistently over much of the first 10 minutes of the half. The Buffs would cut the lead to within 20 twice, including down to 17 after Chavlovich converted on another attempt from long range with around 12 minutes left.
ASU would open the lead up to 23; however, going up 69-46 heading into the under-eight media timeout. The Rams continued to add to that total down the stretch and reached their average scoring margin when taking a 30-point lead with just under five minutes to go, allowing nonstarters for both squads to see lots of time on the court. ASU would lead it 82-51 at the final media timeout before finishing the game with the 88-60 decision.
With the loss, the Buffs fall to 38-22 in the all-time series and have now dropped three-straight to the Rams. Both teams will meet again during the regular season on Wednesday, Feb. 4 at 8 p.m. in San Angelo.
The Buffs fall to 8-2 at home this season with the loss tonight, ending their five-game winning streak at the FUBC.
WT will return to action this Saturday afternoon, January 17, as it travels to Kingsville, Texas for an LSC matchup with Texas A&M-Kingsville. The Buffs and Javelinas will tip off at 4 p.m. from Gil H. Steinke Physical Education Center-Kingsville Hampton Inn Court. Live stats will be provided by TAMUK Athletics. Fans can listen to the game as always on 98.7 Jack FM. The Javelinas have a 5-9 (0-2) record heading into their matchup with Eastern New Mexico tonight (8:30 p.m.). WT leads the all-time series 42-23 and have won three-straight, including both regular season meetings a year ago.
