CANYON, Texas – The West Texas A&M Buffaloes led by 10 points at the half but the #15 Angelo State Rams outscored WT 45-25 in the second period with 21 of those points coming at the free throw line as ASU topped the Buffs, 85-75 on Wednesday night at the Junell Center in San Angelo, Texas. The Buffs fall to 12-7 (1-3 LSC) on the season while the Rams snap a two game losing skip to improve to 13-2 (1-2 LSC).
 
The Rams started out strong as they ran their lead to as much as seven points just 8:28 into the game with a pair of ASU free throws before the Buffs went on a run started by a Tommy Gove long ball as the Buffs took a lead with a David Chavlovich three pointer (19-18) with 9:43 left in the first half. Angelo took the lead again with two freebies before a 12-8 WT run highlighted by buckets from Chavlovich and Jordan Evans as the Buffs took at 31-26 lead with 5:35 left.
 
ASU answered with a Shaquan Rhoades three-point play to cut the lead to three before the Buffs responded with another run as Ryan Quaid knocked down a jumper to give WT the 42-34 with 2:39 left in the half, the teams traded buckets before Chavlovich hit another long ball at 46-37 followed by two ASU free throws before Chavlovich hit another jumper at 48-39 with just 47 seconds left in the half. The Rams hit one-of-two from the line right before the break before the sophomore guard from Arlington hit two at the charity stripe to give the Buffs the 50-40 lead heading into the locker room for the half.
 
The Buffs went 17-of-32 (53.1%) from the floor in the first half including 7-of-18 (38.9%) from deep and 9-of-13 (69.2%) from the free throw line to go along with 20 rebounds (five offensive, 15 defensive), 13 fouls, seven assists, eight turnovers, no blocks and four steals. Chavlovich went 7-of-11 from the field including 4-of-8 from lone range to lead the Buffs with 23 points at the break followed by Joesph Prince with five while Evans and Eric Golightly Jr. grabbed four rebounds each in the first 20 minutes of play.
 
Angelo State went 12-of-27 (44.4%) from the floor in the first period including 3-of-12 (25%) from deep and 13-of-18 (72.2%) from the free throw line to go along with 15 rebounds (two offensive, 13 defensive), 12 fouls, six assists, nine turnovers, one block and six steals. Stedman Allen went 4-of-7 from the floor and 5-of-8 from the charity stripe to score 13 points for the Rams in the first half while Quay King and Omari Gudul had four rebounds each.
 
The Rams cut into the WT lead right after the break as King knocked down a long ball before Golightly Jr. answered with a trey of his own as the Buffs stretched their lead to 10 again, ASU scored five straight points before an Evans jumper at 55-48, the teams traded buckets before Angelo scored nine straight points at the free throw line at 57-59 before a Golightly Jr. jumper ended the ASU run at 59-59 with 9:42 left in the game.
 
A Thomas Tshikaya dunk sparked another Rams run as they score four straight points followed by a Jarrod Walton free throw before ASU responded with four of the next six points to run their lead to 67-62 with 5:40 left. Evans knocked down a three before ASU answered with four straight points followed by a Ryan Quaid free throw at 66-71, the Rams continued to add to their lead at the free throw line as a Golightly Jr. long ball stopped an ASU run at 72-79 with just 42 seconds left. The Rams would make six free throws in the last minute of the game as they took the 75-85 victory in LSC action.
 
The Buffs went 25-of-65 (38.5%) from the floor including 11-of-38 (28.9%) from long range and 14-of-25 (56%) from the free throw line to go along with 42 rebounds (16 offensive, 26 defensive), 30 fouls, 11 assists, 15 turnovers, no blocks and seven steals. Chavlovich went 8-of-21 from the floor and 4-of-14 from deep to score 26 points followed by Golightly Jr. with 11 and Joseph Prince with 10.
 
Angelo State went 23-of-51 (45.1%) from the field and 5-of-20 (25%) from long range and 34-of-43 (79.1%) from the free throw line to go along with 40 rebounds (eight offensive, 32 defensive), 27 fouls, nine assists, 16 turnovers, four blocks and 12 steals in the game. Allen went 7-of-10 from the floor and 5-of-9 from the charity stripe to score 19 points followed by Tre Bennett (16), King (13) and Gustavs Puhovs with 12.
 
NEXT TIME OUT
The Buffs return to the friendly confines of the First United Bank Center on Saturday night as they face-off with the Texas A&M-Kingsville Javelinas with tipoff set for 4 p.m. in the finale of a Lone Star Conference doubleheader in Canyon. The Javelinas enter the weekend with an overall record of 9-5 with a 1-2 mark in LSC play following a 74-61 win over Eastern New Mexico on Wednesday night in Kingsville.