#WTDarkHorse – Vote for Antjuan Ball in the Dark Horse Dunker Competition beginning Wednesday, Feb. 11. First round voting end Feb. 18. VOTE HERE! Box Score / Season Statistics CANYON, Texas – The West Texas A&M men's basketball team rolled to a 73-60 win over rival Midwestern State on Wednesday night inside the First United Bank Center (FUBC) in Canyon, Texas. The Buffs held a 17-point advantage after one half and led by as many as 19 in the game as they now split the season series with the Mustangs. Senior
Miles Gatewood would pour in 19 points with seven assists to help WT improve to 15-9 overall and 5-5 in Lone Star Conference play. With the loss, MSU falls to 18-6 (7-3, LSC).
Gatewood finished the game with 19 points off of 5-for-12 shooting along with a perfect 6-for-6 from the free-throw line. He also dished out seven assists and added two rebounds. WT finished the night going 22-for-57 (.386) from the field while the Mustangs would finish 20-for-49 (.408). The Buffs would shoot better than average from the charity stripe at 20-for-28 (.714) and hold the Mustangs to just 2-for-15 (.133) shooting from beyond the arc.
WT opened this one strong, beginning the game on a 6-0 run in front of its home crowd inside the FUBC.
#WTDarkHorse dunker
Antjuan Ball started it all off with what he does best, a huge slam to begin the scoring. He would draw the foul and hit the free-throw before freshman
David Chavlovich drilled a 3-pointer on the next possession. A quick bucket for the Mustangs would follow before Gatewood drained a triple to make it 9-2 in favor of the home team.
After the first media timeout, the Mustangs would score five straight points to tie the game at 11-11 with just over 12 minutes left. A couple of triples by Gatewood and senior
Tez Dumars would then put WT up 19-13 at 9:06. Dumars' bucket would move him into eighth place on WT's all-time career scoring list, giving him 1,154 points. That would move the Dallas, Texas, native past Joe Thompson (1993-'97) who previously held the spot with 1,152 career points. Dumars finished the night with 15 points, improving his career total to 1,163 points.
The Buffs would make another late surge in the opening half with a 9-1 run, forcing a timeout on the MSU bench. That would stretch the lead to 13, the largest up to that point for WT. With 5:50 to go in the half, that would put the Buffs up 31-18. They would extend it to a 34-20 lead going into the final media timeout of the half.
Gatewood would drop another from long range just before the shot clock expired to put WT up 17, taking a 37-20 lead with two and a half to go, forcing another visitor timeout. The Buffs would close out the half strong taking a 44-27 lead into the break, making four of their final seven shots.
Chavlovich would lead all scorers with 11 points as the teams left for the locker room. Gatewood would also find himself in double-figures with 10 points. Ball, in only 10 minutes, would finish the half with nine points and five rebounds. Hurting the Mustangs in the first 20 minutes was 0-for-6 shooting from beyond the arc and just 5-for-13 (.385) from the free-throw line.
WT would build their lead back up to 18 at the half's first media timeout, going up 49-31 after a Chavlovich triple and fast-break layup by Gatewood. A 6-0 run after the whistle would bring the Mustangs back within 12 before a Dumars layup broke interrupted the run.
A 7-0 run would then ensue for the Mustangs as they cut the deficit back to 10 at 56-46; however, a trip to the line for Dumars would break the streak again. WT would grow cold from the floor, missing two of the next 10 from the field during a scoring drought of nearly three minutes. A timeout by the Mustangs would follow as they trailed the Buffs by single digits, 60-51 with 5:52 remaining.
The Buffs would not let their lead slip back within single digits again after the next bucket as they held on for a 73-60 victory.
Ball would finish just one rebound shy of another double-double. He finished with 13 points and nine boards, seven coming on the defensive end, with a block, assist and steal. Chavlovich would end the game with 14 points and four assists while Dumars would have 15 points with five boards and two helpers.
Bretson McNeal, the Mustangs' leading scorer, would score a team-high 14 points while Xavier Blackburn would add a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
With the win, WT now improves to 32-29 all-time against the Mustangs. They also split the season series after dropping the first match this season in Wichita Falls, 73-58. Wednesday's victory ends a five-game skid for the Buffs against MSU. With both the Buffs and the Lady Buffs picking up wins over MSU tonight, WT ties the Highway 287 Challenge Cup at 7-7.
WT will be back in action on Valentine's Day, this Saturday, Feb. 14, as it takes on Cameron inside Aggie Gym in Lawton, Okla. Tipoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. Live stats and video will be available courtesy of Cameron Athletics while the game can be heard on the radio as always on 98.7 Jack FM. The Buffs own a 29-12 all-time advantage over the Aggies and won the first meeting this season, an 83-82 thriller inside the FUBC on Jan. 10.
