Box Score
 
Season Statistics
 
PORTALES, N.M. – Strong defense in the final minutes of the game made the difference in a tight contest in Portales, N.M., as the West Texas A&M men's basketball team pulled out a hard-fought 76-73 road victory over rival Eastern New Mexico on Saturday night. With the win, the Buffs improve to 13-8 (3-4, LSC). The Greyhounds fall to 7-13 and remain winless in Lone Star Conference play at 0-7.
 
Senior Antjuan Ball had another strong night as he was well represented on the stat sheet, putting up numbers reflecting his second-straight double-double and 11^th of his career. He contributed 13 points off of 5-for-8 shooting and grabbed 11 boards, a season-high 10 on the defensive end, to go along with four blocks and a steal.
 
Leading the way for the Buffs; however, was freshman David Chavlovich who put up 17 points from 3-for-8 shooting from beyond the arc. He added in four rebounds and two assists. Chavlovich has now led WT in scoring eight times this season.
 
"What a great game tonight," stated head coach Tom Brown. "This is a very tough place to play and they had a great crowd and student section that was really into it tonight. We struggled in the first half and came out pretty slow but I think we made some appropriate adjustments in the second half. This was a big win, especially for our seniors."
 
The first half of Saturday night's contest inside Greyhound Arena was a back-and-forth affair as both teams traded buckets consistently over the first half of play. Neither side was able to put together any sort of run or maintain momentum for any solid stretch of time. The first 16 minutes would feature 11 lead changes while the game was tied on four occasions.
 
The Buffs would grab their largest lead of the half, going up six to make the score 26-20 with 3:43 heading into the final media timeout. That would cap off a 7-0 run for WT that started with a 3-pointer by Chavlovich followed by back-to-back layups by Ball. During that stretch, the Greyhounds would continue their poor shooting, going just 2-for-9 from the field.
 
WT would then grab three-consecutive buckets, a couple by senior Miles Gatewood along with a layup by senior Tez Dumars, to take a 32-27 lead with 2:09 remaining, forcing a timeout on the home bench.
 
But Chris Wyms would nail back-to-back triples for the Greyhounds to put his team up 33-32 going into the locker room, including a buzzer-beater to end the half.
 
Leading the way for the Buffs at halftime was Gatewood with 10 points off of 4-for-8 shooting from the field to go along with three rebounds and an assist. Ball and Dumars would also add six points each while Chavlovich contributed five. Wyms for ENMU would lead all with 11 points thanks to 3-for-4 shooting from long range as carried the Greyhounds on his back throughout the first 20 minutes of play.
 
As a team, the Buffs would go 14-for-29 (.480) compared to the Greyhounds' 11-for-30 (.370) in the first half. The Buffs would be outrebounded 23-14 in the opening half; however, would hold the 20-8 advantage in points in the paint.
 
After opening up the second half with a Chavlovich layup, the Greyhounds retook the lead with an 8-2 run. However, a triple by Gatewood and huge two-handed slam by Ball would give WT the 41-40 lead going into the under-16 media with 15:53 on the clock.
 
Both squads would find themselves knotted at 45-45 before Chavlovich drained the 3-pointer to give WT the lead by three. But the home team would roll to a 7-0 run into the next media with 11:30, going up 52-48. The two teams would then find themselves tied still heading into the final media at 66-66 with 3:29 remaining.
 
WT would jump ahead by five after the short break with a couple of free-throws and a 3-pointer by Chavlovich. The Buffs then pulled together a couple of big defensive stops and make a few free throws to seal the deal, making the score 76-70 with just seconds remaining. A 3-pointer at the buzzer for ENMU would bring the final score to 76-73. Before that basket, the Greyhounds found the net on just two of their previous 10 shots.
 
The Buffs finished the night 28-for-55 (.510) from the floor, their sixth time shooting above .500 as a team this season. ENMU would struggle throughout, going 26-for-73 (.360). WT would have a hard time again from the line, making just 14-of-27 (.520). In the end, ENMU would hold the 45-38 rebounding edge. Tonight's contest featured nine ties and 19 lead changes.
 
Gatewood finished the game with 16 points to go along with five rebounds and two assists. Dumars would also finish in double-figures with 12 points off of 5-for-10 shooting with four boards and three assists. Dumars now brings his career points total to 1,110, making him just two points shy of 10^th place on WT's all-time scoring list. He hit the 1,000-point milestone back on Jan. 7 at Midwestern State.
 
With a win tonight and a Cameron loss, WT now holds sole possession of fifth place in the Lone Star Conference. It also improves to 3-4 on the road this season.
 
The Buffs now improve to 64-18 all-time against the Greyhounds and end a three-game skid against the rivals from Portales. The two teams will meet again on Feb. 28 to end the regular season in Canyon. That will be a 4 p.m. tipoff.
 
WT will return to action next Wednesday, Feb. 4, as it travels to San Angelo, Texas for a rematch with No. 8 Angelo State. The Buffs and Rams will tipoff from the Junnell Center at approximately 8 p.m. or upon conclusion of the women's game. Live stats and video will be available for the contest courtesy of Angelo State Athletics. As always, fans can keep up with the action by tuning into 98.7 Jack FM or by following @wtathletics on Twitter. The Rams currently own a 19-1 overall record and perfect 7-0 conference record after their victory over Texas A&M-Kingsville earlier today. WT is 38-22 all-time against ASU; however, has lost three straight, including an 88-60 decision earlier this season in Canyon.