ORANGE, California – West Texas A&M opened up their 2016-17 campaign in style on Friday morning as five different Buffs scored in double-figures to lead WT to an 86-72 season opening win over the Azusa Pacific Cougars to open up the CCA Division II Tipoff Classic at the Santiago Canyon College Athletics Complex in Orange, California. The Buffs improve to 1-0 while the Cougars fall to 0-1 on the season.
 
Both teams started off cold from the floor as they went just over three minutes without a point before Jarrod Walton got the scoring going at the 16:54 mark with a layup for the early lead, Ryan Quaid connected on a layup from David Chavlovich followed by a defensive stop and another Quaid bucket to run the lead to 6-0. Walton finished at the rim for his second bucket before the Cougars tallied their first bucket of the young season by Selom Mawugbe at 8-2, Joey Schreiber quickly tied the game with back-to-back treys before a Quaid long ball from the wing at 11-8. Azusa answered with a trey of their own before another Quaid bucket and Chavlovich's first points of the season on a three to give WT the 11-6 lead heading into the first media timeout.
 
Chavlovich hit a pair of free throws after the break followed by misses on both ends before Walton connected on a jumper at 20-11 to head into the second media timeout of the game. Petar Kutlesic cut into the lead with a layup followed by another Chavlovich bucket and a Carl White dunk and freebie for a three-point play at 24-15. Schreiber hit a three from the wing followed by an Austin Dyer layup to cut the lead to 25-18 before a Walton free throw at 26-18 to head into the under-eight media timeout with WT leading 26-18 with 4:53 left.
 
The teams traded misses after the timeout before Quaid went one-of-two at the charity stripe followed by a Kutlesic layup at 27-20, Chavlovich answered with a jumper to push the WT lead back up to nine with just under three minutes left in the half. Jordan Evans hit a long ball for his first points of the season off an assists from Joseph Prince to force a Cougars timeout with WT leading 32-20 with 1:25 left in the half. Corey Langerveld hit a jumper to stop the WT run followed by a Buff miss that led to a Kutlesic layup at 32-24, the Cougars took advantage of a WT foul with a second left as Schreiber hit two-of-three at the line to head into the locker room with the Buffs leading 32-26.
 
The Buffs went 12-of-37 (32.4%) from the floor in the first half including 3-of-13 (23.1%) from deep and 5-of-11 (45.5%) from the charity stripe to go along with 25 rebounds (seven offensive, 18 defensive), six assists, three turnovers and six steals. Quaid led the Buffs at the break with 10 points and eight rebounds followed by Chavlovich with nine points.
 
APU went 10-of-31 (32.3%) from the floor in the opening 20 minutes including 4-of-14 (28.6%) from long range and 2-of-4 (50%) from the free throw line to go along with 24 rebounds (four offensive, 20 defensive), six assists, 10 turnovers and just one steal. Schreiber led all players at the break with 11 points followed by Kutlesic with six to go along with seven rebounds.
 
Walton started off the scoring for the Buffs in the second half with a jumper followed by a Skyler O'Laughlin board that led to an Evans fast break trey at 37-26, APU answered with a three of their own before O'Laughlin connected on a jumper in his first career game as a Buff. The teams traded free throws as Evans knocked down two before APU answered with a Will Ferris jumper at 41-32, Evans answered with a three ball followed by a Connor Peterson jumper at 44-34. O'Laughlin hit one-of-two from the line followed by a Schreiber trey to cut the lead to 45-37, the Cougars knocked down two freebies followed by a WT miss and a Ferris jumper heading into a media timeout with the Buffs leading 45-41 with 15:19 left.
 
The teams traded long balls after the break as White knocked down a trey from the wing followed two possessions layer by a Prince long ball from Chavlovich to run the lead to 55-41, APU knocked down a pair of free throws followed by a WT miss that led to a Ferris jumper to cut the lead to 51-48. O'Laughlin answered with a big slam followed by misses on both ends before the Cougars hit one-of-two at the line, the teams traded jumpers followed by a White jumper and freebie for a three-point play at 58-52 with 10:46 left. Walton rejected a Cougars long ball attempt heading into a media timeout with 9:57 left and the Buffs holding onto a 58-52 lead.
 
Walton hit a pair at the charity stripe after the break before Schreiber answered with a three ball from the corner at 60-55, White changed the momentum again with a layup on WT's trip down the court but a Buff foul gave Schreiber one more at the free throw line at 62-56. Evans nailed a long ball followed by another APU free throw before Chavlovich knocked down a trey to run the WT lead to 68-57, the Cougars responded with a three of their own heading into an APU timeout with 7:35 left and WT leading 68-60. The Buffs added to their lead with a Prince trey from the wing before APU responded with a layup on the other end, Chavlovich added to the WT lead with a layup of his own followed by buckets on both ends heading into a WT timeout with 4:19 left and the Buffs leading 75-64.
 
The teams traded jumpers again followed by Evans knocking down two at the charity stripe to run the lead to 79-66, APU hit one-of-two at the line followed by a Chavlovich steal that led to a Walton free throw to run the lead to 80-67 with 2:11 left. Peterson knocked down three at the line for the Cougars followed by two from Chavlovich to run the score to 82-70. Another Chavlovich steal led to two more Walton freebies followed by another foul and two Evans free throws at 86-70 with just over a minute left. The Cougars continued their cold streak in the final minute as a pair of Schreiber freebies with 27 seconds left cut the lead to 86-72 as the Buffs ran out the clock for the 86-72 season opening win.
 
The Buffs went 28-of-64 (43.8%) from the floor including 10-of-24 (41.7%) from deep and 20-of-28 (71.4%) from the charity stripe to go along with 37 rebounds (nine offensive, 28 defensive), 13 assist, seven turnovers, two blocks and nine steals. Evans led the way for WT with 20 points followed by Chavlovich (16), Walton (14), White (13), and Quaid (12) in double-digits while Quaid ended the game with 10 rebounds for a double-double.
 
Azusa Pacific went 23-of-57 (40.4%) from the field including 9-of-26 (34.6% from long range and 17-of-23 (73.9%) from the free throw line to go along with 40 rebounds (10 offensive, 30 defensive), 13 assists, 20 turnovers, two blocks and four steals. Schreiber led all players with 25 points on the afternoon followed by Peterson with 14 and Kutlesic with 13.
 
UP NEXT
The Buffs return to action tomorrow night as they take on the Huskies of St. Cloud State with tipoff set for 6 p.m. CT at the Santiago Canyon College Athletics Complex in Orange, California. The Huskies take on #23 Arkansas-Fort Smith at 3:30 p.m. this afternoon in their season opener.