ORANGE, California – The Buffaloes of West Texas A&M are off to their best start to a season since 2012-13 thanks to an 11-0 run in the heart of the second half as WT outlasted #23 Arkansas-Fort Smith, 94-86 in the finale of the CCA Division II Tipoff Classic at the Santiago Canyon College Athletics Complex in Orange, California. The Buffs stay unbeaten at 3-0 on the season while the Lions fall to 2-1 overall.
 
The Buffs started off the scoring with a Skyler O'Laughlin layup from Garrett Brockman followed a possession later by a Jordan Evans long ball for the early 5-0 lead to force an early UAFS timeout, Darrius Parker hit a jumper coming out of the timeout followed by a WT foul and two Lion free throws to cut the lead to 5-4. A Brett Jolly steal led to another Parker bucket before a WT miss and an Alex Cooper trey to run the UAFS lead to 9-5, Jerrod Walton responded with a long ball of his own before the teams traded jumpers.
 
Walton grabbed an offensive board and finished under the bucket but the Lions answered once again at 15-12, Ryan Quaid's layup gave the sophomore his first points of the game followed a possession later by an Eric Golightly Jr. rebound and score to give the Buffs a 16-15 lead heading into a media timeout with 13:45 left.
 
The Lions hit two at the charity stripe after the break followed by an O'Laughlin board and score at 18-17, Seth Youngblood answered with a jumper followed by Walton hitting one of two at the line before a scoring drought by both teams that was ended by a Parker jumper before Quaid answered with a bucket at 21-21. Ognjen Vasiljevic drained a three to swing the momentum back to the Lions followed by a WT miss and a Youngblood long ball to run the UAFS lead to 27-21 to force a Buffs timeout with 9:41 left in the half.
 
The Buffs scored seven straight points after the break highlighted by a Carl White long ball and David Chavlovich's first bucket of the game followed by a UAFS jumper before a pair of Quaid freebies gave WT the 30-29 lead, Chavlovich knocked down a long ball before a DaVaunta Thomas three-point play at 33-32. White hit a trey from the wing followed by a Thomas jumper before O'Laughlin hit one-of-two at the line at 37-34, Evans added to his point total with a layup off a pass from Walton heading into a media timeout with 4:42 left and the Buffs leading 39-34.
 
The Lions hit one-of-two at the free throw line followed by a WT miss that led to a Thomas bucket at 39-37 but Walton responded immediately with a three from the corner, UAFS answered with a layup followed by another Walton bucket at 44-39 with just over three minutes left. Ladarius Coleman knocked down a jumper followed by a WT turnover that led to a Cooper bucket to cut the lead to 44-43, DaVaunta Thomas gave the Lions the lead with a layup before Evans ended a 2:33 scoring drought with a trey off a pass from Jordan Collins to give the Buffs the lead at 47-45 heading into the locker room for halftime.
 
The Buffs were led at the break by Walton with 13 points and three assists while Evans continued his hot start to the season with 10 points in the opening period. WT went 18-of-37 (48.6%) from the floor including 7-of-18 (38.9%) from long range and 4-of-6 (66.6%) from the charity stripe to go along with 22 rebounds (nine offensive, 13 defensive), 10 assists, five turnovers, three blocks and one steal.
 
Arkansas-Fort Smith was led by Parker with 13 points and three rebounds at the break followed by Thomas with 11 points. The Lions went 18-of-33 (54.5%) from the field including 3-of-9 (33.3%) from deep and 6-of-7 (85.7%) from the free throw line with 14 rebounds (three offensive, 11 defensive), eight assists, three turnovers, one block and three steals.
 
Evans knocked down a pair at the charity stripe to start the second half before Thomas answered a possession later with a bucket before a WT turnover that led to a Youngblood layup to tie the game at 49-49, Walton immediately responded with a three-point play followed by the Lions tying the game at the free throw line at 52-52. Golightly Jr. hit two free throws followed by a Chavlovich jumper before the Lions responded with a Coleman layup, Walton answered with a bucket of his own heading into a media timeout with 14:59 left and the Buffs leading 58-54.
 
Chavlovich hit three free throws to continue the WT run followed by White going one-for-two at the line before Chavlovich hit a three from the top of the key to force a UAFS timeout with 14:!5 left and the Buffs leading 65-54, Chavlovich knocked down a jumper after the timeout before the Lions ended an 11-0 WT run with a Coleman bucket at 67-56. The teams traded free throws before Evans hit a transition three at 72-58, the Lions answered with a long ball of their own before Joseph Prince responded with a trey to run the WT lead to 75-58 with 10:35 left.
 
The teams traded free throws before a short scoring drought before Chavlovich knocked down a jumper followed by a pair of Lions free throws at 79-65, UAFS continued to cut into the lead at the free throw line before Golightly Jr. responded with a layup followed by buckets on both ends to head into the final media timeout of the game with 4:28 on the clock and the Buffs leading 85-72.
 
The Lions wouldn't go down without a fight as they went on a 10-3 run to cut the lead to 88-82 before the Buffs missed a pair of freebies with 2:02 left, O'Laughlin stopped the UAFS run with a layup but the Lions answered with a jumper and a timeout with the Buffs leading 90-84 with 1:27 left. Golightly Jr. had a big offensive rebound and a pass to Walton for a bucket with just under a minute left, the teams traded turnovers as Kyree Elder cut the WT lead to 92-86 with a big slam heading into a UAFS timeout with 16 second remaining. The Lions chose to foul and the Buffs missed both at the line but Chavlovich made a heads up play followed his shot and finished off a board and score to give WT the 94-86 win.
 
The Buffs were led by Walton with 24 points followed by Chavlovich (19), Evans (17) and Golightly Jr. (10) with double-digit points while Chavlovich led WT with six rebounds and three assists. WT went 33-of-65 (50.8%) from the floor including 10-of-29 (34.5%) from deep and 18-of-27 (66.7%) from the free throw line to go along with 37 rebounds (13 offensive, 24 defensive), 13 assists, 13 turnovers, five blocks and three steals.
 
UAFS was led by Thomas with 20 points and five rebounds followed by Youngblood with 19 and Parker with 14 points and a team leading six rebounds. The Lions went 29-of-60 (48.3%) from the floor including 4-of-15 (26.7%) from long range and 24-of-28 (85.7%) from the free throw line to go along with 31 rebounds (eight offensive, 23 defensive), 13 assists, nine turnovers, one block and eight steals.
 
UP NEXT
The Buffs open up their home schedule next weekend as they host the LSC/RMAC Challenge with matchups against #15 Fort Lewis and New Mexico Highlands at the First United Bank Center in Canyon.