Box Score
 
Season Statistics
 
CANYON, Texas – After trailing by double-digits in the second half, the West Texas A&M men's basketball team forced overtime and dominated the extra five minutes on the hardwood to earn a fifth-straight win, defeating Mid-America Christian, 92-84, on Friday night at the First United Bank Center (FUBC) in Canyon. The Buffs were led freshman David Chavlovich with 27 points and a career/season-high 8-for-14 from long range. Tonight's win would also be the eighth in the last nine games for WT as it improves to 8-4 on season. With the loss, MACU falls to 8-6 on the year.
 
"There were a couple of things that really played a big part in this game tonight, especially the second half," noted head coach Tom Brown. "One was the crowd. Even though it wasn't a huge crowd, they were intense and got loud when we needed it and our guys fed off of that. Another thing for us that we stressed at halftime was getting to the basket. And Miles (Gatewood) did a great job in that regard."
 
In addition to his 27 points, Chavlovich tallied six assists, two rebounds and a steal. He finished the night going 9-for-18 from the field. Senior Miles Gatewood recorded a career-high in points with 26 as he shot 10-for-16 from the floor with three rebounds, two assists, and a steal. Senior Tez Dumars also finished in double-figures with 14 points.
 
The Buffs have now scored over 80 points for the eighth time this season after only surpassing that total seven times the previous season.
 
Both squads traded quick buckets to get on the board before the Buffs grabbed a 3-pointer from Gatewood to go up 5-2 in the opening minutes. The Evangels hung with the Buffs early and even grabbed a 9-8 advantage after a couple of deep buckets by guard Semar Farris.
 
WT responded strong with a 9-0 run off three shots from long range by Dumars, redshirt-freshman Rylan Gerber, and Chavlovich. That extended the home team's advantage to 17-9 just after the first media timeout with 15 minutes left on the clock.
 
The Evangels stormed back; however, and grabbed their first lead to make it 24-22 with 8:14 left after an 8-0 ran spanning just over a minute of play. Along with that stretch, the Buffs went cold, shooting 2-for-8 from the floor with four turnovers over nearly three minutes. That run for MACU extended to a 12-2 advantage as it went up on the Buffs by four before Chavlovich nailed another shot from beyond the arc and reached the free-throw line to knot the score at 28-28 with five minutes remaining.
 
After the score tied up again with under four minutes, senior Antjuan Ball came out of the final media timeout with a big slam dunk to retake the lead for WT. MACU would then go up by two with a bucket in the final seconds of the half, giving the visitors the 38-36 lead. Tonight would mark the first time this season WT trailed after the opening frame.
 
In the first half, both teams went 13-for-29 (.448) from the floor. WT would shoot well from long range, going 6-for-15 (.400). The first 20 minutes featured eight ties and seven lead changes on the scoreboard. Dumars led the Buffs with 10 points and added three assists, three rebounds, and one steal. Chavlovich added seven points with two 3-pointers and two assists and a steal. Farris of MACU led all scorers in the first frame with 14 points.
 
Both teams came out of the locker room hot offensively, trading buckets on each of the first few possessions. Over that period, Chavlovich and Jarius Wilson of MACU traded two 3-pointers each to make the score 50-49, still in favor of the visitors, with 15:10 remaining. MACU would grab another bucket for the 52-49 lead heading into a late first media timeout of the half, with 14:06 on the clock.
 
After allowing a 6-0 run, the Buffs tied the contest back at 54-54 with a fast-break one-handed slam by Ball off a Chavlovich assist. But after the ensuing media timeout, the Evangels rolled to a 10-0 run, capped off by two triples by Farris. The 64-54 deficit would call for another timeout from the WT bench with 9:12 on the clock.
 
The Buffs then started to climb back with just under five minutes remaining, cutting the MACU lead to one with a mid-range jumper from Chavlovich and two long 3-pointers in opposite corners by Gatewood. That would make the score 71-70 in favor of MACU at 4:08.
 
WT grabbed its first lead since the 15:36 mark as Chavlovich nailed a long jumper from beyond the arc to put WT up 75-74 with just under two minutes left. A couple of field goals by the visitors surrounding another triple by Chavlovich brought the score to 78-78 with :25 on the clock. That would tie Chavlovich's season/career-high at six 3-point field goals in the game. In the final play of regulation, the ball was in the hands of MACU's hot shooter, Farris; however, Gatewood came up with the big steal as time expired, not giving the visitor's a final look at the rim.
 
Gatewood would grab the opening bucket of extra time, passing his previous career-high of 21 points in a game. The Buffs opened up the period with a 10-3 run in dominating fashion. Back-to-back triples by Chavlovich would break his best mark with eight made attempts from beyond the arc. Ball would follow up with another fast-break slam while Gatewood grabbed a bucket with an ensuing free-throw. That would give the Buffs the 92-84 victory in the first-ever meeting between the two programs.
 
The Buffs finished the night going 33-for-70 from the field (.471) compared to 31-for-70 (.443) for the visitors. WT also converted on 14-of-33 shots from beyond the arc (.424).
 
WT will return to action tomorrow (Saturday) evening for the second of this weekend's back-to-back contests. The Buffs will host Hillsdale Baptist at 6 p.m. It will be the third all-time meeting between the two programs. WT holds the 2-0 advantage in the series. The last meeting was an 85-65 victory for WT on Jan. 3, 2014. Live stats and a free video webstream will be available for the game courtesy of West Texas A&M Athletic Media Relations. Live updates can also be found by following @wtathletics on Twitter.