#WTDarkHorse – Vote for Antjuan Ball in the Dark Horse Dunker Competition every day. Semi-Final voting ends Wednesday, March 4 at NOON! VOTE HERE!
 
Box Score
 
Season Statistics
 
CANYON, Texas – The West Texas A&M senior trio of Antjuan Ball, Tez Dumars, & Miles Gatewood led the Buffalo basketball team to a 96-86 home victory over the rival Greyhounds of Eastern New Mexico on Saturday afternoon inside the First United Bank Center (FUBC) in Canyon, Texas. The Buffs closed out the regular season on Senior Day, finishing now with a 17-11 overall record and 7-7 mark in Lone Star Conference play. They now await their quarterfinal matchup in the LSC Tournament next Thursday after locking in the fifth seed. With the loss, ENMU falls to 7-20 (0-14, LSC).
 
All three seniors had a huge day for the Buffs on Saturday, especially Dumars who moved into fifth place on WT's all-time career scoring list. His 20 points today bumps his career total to 1,205. Dumars needs just 23 points now to move into the top-five and pass WT-great Maurice Cheeks. Ball would finish with his sixth double-double of the season, and 14^th of his career, after pouring in 17 points with 12 boards to go along with five blocks. Gatewood would finish his final home game with 24 points, complemented by five assists, three rebounds and a steal.
 
Freshman David Chavlovich also had a big game for the Buffs. He would go 7-for-15 from the field to lead all scorers with 26 points. He added six boards, four assists and two steals. He has finished in double-figures in 23 of his 27 games this season while Saturday would be his eighth game scoring over 20 points.
 
It took less than three minutes on Saturday for Dumars to move himself up the first spot higher on the all-time scoring list as he tallied his team's first five points of the night. That put him into sixth place all time with 1,190 points, passing Simmie Hill (1967-'69) who previously held the spot with 1,189 career points.
 
On the next possession, Ball would throw down a two-handed jam to complete the game-opening 7-2 run, forcing a timeout on the visitors' bench at 17:27.  
 
A few minutes later, the Greyhounds would climb back and grab their first lead of the game as they took a 14-13 lead over the Buffs. That would send the teams into the under-12 media timeout with a short break at 11:09. Leaning on a 7-0 run for WT, the Buffs would then regain a 20-17 lead at the under-eight media. After that break, WT would roll to the next six points as Chavlovich put together a four-point play, draining the three and drawing the foul which added to the following free-throw. That would make the score 26-17 with 7:10 on the clock.
 
ENMU would pull together a run of its own just above the 4:00 mark; however, Gatewood knocked down a triple to put WT back up 33-28 at the final media timeout of the half. Another one for Gatewood would follow once play resumed. The Buffs continued to roll, finishing the half strong and taking a 41-35 lead into the locker room.
 
For the half, the Buffs would go 15-for-26 (.577) from the field compared to 13-for-31 (.419) for the Greyhounds. Leading the way for WT was Gatewood who put up 11 points, shooting 3-for-5 from the perimeter, to go with three assists. Ball would also have double-figures in the first frame with 10 points along with five boards and three blocks. Seth Bailey for ENMU would also have 11 points after 20 minutes.
 
WT would storm to a 10-2 run to open the second half on Saturday, going up 51-37 with 17:39 on the clock. Half of those points would come from Ball. After trading buckets over the next few minutes, WT would then hold their lead when the under-12 media came, staying up over ENMU, 66-52.
 
Before that break came, Ball would grab his 10^th rebound of the night, earning him his 6^th double-double of the year and 14^th of his two-year WT career. That would put him at 17 points and 10 boards at the 14:30 mark.
 
Shortly after, at the 11:02 mark, Dumars would make his way to the free-throw line again. The Dallas, Texas, native would sink both attempts and climb up to sole possession of fifth-place on WT's all-time career scoring list, giving him 1,198 points, passing Mike Mitchell (1967-'69), who previously held the spot with 1,197 points. Those points would then give WT the 68-54 lead over the Greyhounds.
 
With six minutes left in the game, ENMU would cut the Buffs' lead to single digits, bringing the deficit back to seven points. A bucket by Michael Randle cut the WT lead to 76-69.
 
The Buffs would never allow the Greyhounds to come any closer over the final minutes. A 7-0 run for WT would put the Buffs up 93-79 with just over a minute left. They would then finish with the 96-86 decision.
 
With the win, the Buffs improve to 65-18 all-time over the Greyhounds and have now won two straight in the series, sweeping both matchups this season. Tonight also marks the first win at home for WT over ENMU since Jan. 18, 2012.
 
Prior to the game this afternoon, the Buffs' three seniors, Ball, Dumars, & Gatewood, were honored on the floor for senior day (pictured above).
 
On the day, the Buffs finished 31-for-57 (.544) from the floor and 9-for-21 (.429) from the perimeter; however, struggled again from the charity strip, shooting just 25-for-48 (.521). The Greyhounds finished with a 41-35 advantage on the boards but committed 36 fouls to WT's 18.
 
WT will be back in action on Thursday night, March 5, as it takes on an opponent to be determined in the opening round of the Lone Star Conference Tournament, played at the Allen Event Center in Allen, Texas. Prior to the game tonight, the Buffs had already locked down the 5-seed in the tournament, guaranteeing them an 8:30 p.m. showdown on Thursday against either, Midwestern State or Texas A&M-Commerce as a 4-seed, which will be decided after this weekend's games. Tickets are still available on Ticketmaster or through the Allen Event Center box office.
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#WTDARKHORSE ANTJUAN BALL: Senior Antjuan Ball has been selected as one of 16 finalists nationally who is competing in the State Farm Dark Horse Dunker Competition, and has now made it through to the Semi-Finals as one of the final four remaining. Semi-Final voting began Wednesday, Feb. 25, and will go till Wednesday, March 4, in a bracket-style format, where the winner each week advances on until a final fan favorite is selected. The winner of the competition will earn the final roster spot in the 2015 State Farm College Slam Dunk & 3-Point Championships, which will be aired live on ESPN will take place during Final Four Weekend in Indianapolis, Ind. The winner will be solely determined by the fans and ballots can be cast once PER DAY PER PLATFORM (ex. Twitter, Facebook, Email). It can be found on www.DarkHorseDunker.com. Semi-Final round voting will end at 12 p.m. next Wednesday while the Finals will begin immediately at that time, and last for one week as well.