QUICK HITS
- UPR-Rio Piedras went on a 2:45 scoring drought early in the first half (18:01 – 14:45)
- The teams missed a combined nine consecutive shots in the heart of the first half
- The Gallitos went on a 14-0 run at the end of the first half to take a 30-19 halftime lead
- WT failed to score a point from the 3:17 mark of the first half until the 17:00 mark of the second
- The Buffs went on an 11-1 run late in the second half to cut the lead to 60-57
 
LEADING THE WAY (Statistical Leaders)
Points – Omar De Jesus (UPRRP, 22 Points), Jordan Evans (WT, 18 Points), Kristian Medina (UPRRP, 18 Points)
Rebounds – David Chavlovich (WT, 8 Rebounds), Jordan Evans (WT, 8 Rebounds), Jeff Bonner (WT, 8 Rebounds), Kristian Medina (UPRRP, 7 Rebounds), Michael Rosario (UPRRP, 7 Rebounds)
Assists – David Chavlovich (WT, 3 Assists), Omar De Jesus (UPRRP, 3 Assists)
Blocks – Jordan Evans (WT, 1 Block), Jerrod Walton (WT, 1 Block), Kristian Medina (UPRRP, 1 Block), Michael Rosario (UPRRP, 1 Block)
Steals – Kristian Medina (UPRRP, 3 Steals), Eric Golightly Jr. (WT, 2 Steals), Tommy Gove (WT, 2 Steals)
 
BAYAMON, Puerto Rico –  The West Texas A&M Buffaloes fought back from an 18 point deficit in the second half as they overcame a cold shooting afternoon but a pair of last second attempts wouldn't fall as the Buffs fell to Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras, 66-62 on Tuesday afternoon on the campus of UPR-Bayamon in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The Buffs snap a two game winning streak to fall to 8-4 on the season while the NCAA Division II Independent Gallitos improve to 2-3 overall.
 
The Buffs jumped out to an early lead as Eric Golightly Jr. started off the scoring with a layup just four seconds into the game followed by a Rio Piedras miss that led to a Jordan Evans long ball to make it 5-0, the Gallitos answered with five points of their own followed by a pair of Tommy Gove free throws followed a possession later by a Jeff Bonner layup. The Gallitos stopped a 2:45 scoring drought with a free throw at 14:45 followed by a WT miss and Rio-Piedras layup to cut the lead to 9-8, the teams missed nine straight shots before David Chavlovich got on the board with a layup to end the WT drought before the Gallitos responded with a long ball to tie the game at 11-11.
 
The teams traded turnovers before they traded threes as Chavlovich tied the game at 14-14 before turnovers on both ends of the court before a Gallitos layup ended a scoring drought put Joseph Prince would answer with a deep ball to give WT the 17-16 lead. Jerrod Walton knocked down a pair from the free throw line to run the WT lead to 19-16 before the Gallitos answered with two of their own with 3:07 left, Rio-Piedras took the lead with a long ball at 21-19 followed by a WT miss and another Gallitos three with just over a minute left. The Gallitos weren't done yet as they turned a Buffs turnover into another long ball to force a WT timeout with 50 seconds left and UPRRP leading 27-19. WT missed from long range again as UPRRP turned that into another three pointer to head into the locker room with a 30-19 lead.
 
The Buffs shot just 23.1% (6-of-26) from the floor in the first half including 18.8% (3-of-16) from deep and 66.7% (4-of-6) from the free throw line to go along with 25 total rebounds (six offensive, 19 defensive), five fouls, three assists, 14 turnovers, one block and three steals. Chavlovich went 2-of-7 from the floor including just 1-of-4 from long range to lead the Buffs at the break with five points.
 
The Gallitos extended their run to 16-0 with a layup to start the second half followed by misses on both ends of the court before UPRRP grabbed an offensive rebound and finished with a putback to run the score to 34-19, the teams traded misses again before a pair of Gallito free throws extended their run to 20-0 before a Gove layup at 17:00 ended a 6:17 WT scoring drought to cut the lead to 36-21. Rio Piedras answered with a three point play before Evans registered one of his own followed by a Gallitos turnover that led to a Bonner layup at 39-26 with 15:51 left, Bonner struck again after a timeout followed by a Gallitos foul and two free throws by Walton to extend the WT run to 9-0 and cut the lead to 39-30.
 
Rio Piedras ended the run with a layup before Golightly Jr. hit one-of-two free throws followed by the Gallitos hitting one of their own at 42-31, the Buffs missed from long range again that turned into a UPRRP layup before Evans hit two freebies to cut the lead to 44-33 with 12:29 left, the Gallitos responded immediately with a layup followed by turnovers on both ends before Golightly Jr. hit two free throws. The Gallitos added to their lead with a three ball followed by a WT miss but Gove stole the ball right back but the Buffs missed two free throws, Bonner hit one from the line followed by a Gallitos turnover that led to a Ryan Quaid jumper before UPRRP answered with a bucket of their own at 51-41 with 8:38 left.
 
Quaid completed a three-point play for the Buffs followed by a Gallitos miss from long range and a Prince jumper to cut the lead to 51-44 before a Quaid layup with 7:34 left, the Gallitos answered with a jumper followed by a pair of free throws by UPRRP to run the lead to 55-46. Rio Piedras added to their lead with two more freebies followed by another WT miss from deep that led to another free throw at 59-46 before a Quaid three-point play with just over five minutes left, the Gallitos turned the ball over leading to an Evans long ball at 59-52, Rio Piedras hit one-of-two at the line followed by a Golightly Jr. three to cut the lead to five before misses on both end followed by an Evans slam to make it 60-57 and force a Gallitos timeout with 2:29 left.
 
The teams traded misses after the break before a pair of freebies by Rio Piedras ran the lead to 62-57 but Evans answered again with a quick layup with 1:18 on the clock, WT was forced to foul as the Gallitos hit two more from the line but an offensive board by Chavlovich allowed Evans to find the bottom of the net with 55 seconds left as the sophomore completed the three-point play at 64-62. The Gallitos gave the ball back with a turnover as Golightly Jr. grabbed a monster offensive board heading into a WT timeout with just nine seconds left, the Buffs couldn't pull off the comeback as they missed a pair of layups followed by two free throws by the Gallitos for the 66-62 final.
 
The Buffs went 20-of-68 (29.4%) from the floor including 5-of-36 (13.9%) from long range and 17-of-24 (70.8%) from the charity stripe to go along with 50 total rebounds (21 offensive, 29 defensive), 19 fouls, 11 assists, 17 turnovers, two blocks and eight steals in the game. Evans went 6-of-24 from the floor including 2-of-17 from deep to lead the Buffs with 18 points (15 in the second half) to go along with eight rebounds followed by Quaid with 10 points.
 
UPR-Rio Piedras went 19-of-55 (34.5%) from the field including 8-of-29 (27.6%) from deep and 20-of-23 (87%) from the free throw line to go along with 39 rebounds (seven offensive, 32 defensive), 20 fouls, eight assists, 16 turnovers, two blocks and eight steals in the game. Omar De Jesus went 6-of-14 from the floor including 4-of-9 from long range to lead all players with 22 points followed by Kristian Medina with 18 to go along with seven rebounds for the Gallitos.
 
NEXT TIME OUT
The Buffs continue their trip on Thursday afternoon as they take on the Cowboys of Puerto Rico-Bayamon with tipoff set for 5 p.m. CT on the Bayamon campus. WT will wrap-up their trip on Friday morning as they take on UPR-Humacao at 11 a.m. CT before taking the mandatory NCAA holiday break before starting Lone Star Conference play on New Year's Eve against the Cameron Aggies (4 p.m.) at the First United Bank Center in Canyon.