CANYON, Texas – The #24 Buffaloes of West Texas A&M saw 11 different players register a point as they started off Lone Star Conference action on a high note on Thursday night with a 91-55 win over the visiting Mustangs of Western New Mexico in front of 748 fans at the First Untied Bank Center in Canyon. Texas. The Buffs register their fourth straight victory to move to 9-1 (1-0 LSC) while the Mustangs fall to 1-5 (0-1 LSC) on the season.
 
Skyler O'Laughlin started off the game with a free throw before Willie McCray hit a three from the wing for WNMU's first bucket, David Chavlovich found Jordan Evans down low for a layup followed by a Mustang offensive foul that led to an O'Laughlin bucket at 5-3 followed by a WNMU miss and an Evans long ball to force a Western timeout with WT leading 8-3 with 18:22 left. WNMU turned the ball over after the break as Joseph Prince hit a three from the wing followed by a Chavlovich steal and an O'Laughlin board-and-slam at 13-3, the teams traded turnovers followed by misses on both ends before McCray hit a three from the wing at 13-6 but Evans answered with a trey from the corner heading into a media timeout with WT leading 16-6 and 15:06 left.
 
Eric Mosley grabbed a board after the break that led to an Eric Golightly Jr. long ball from the wing followed by a Mosley steal on the inbound as the sophomore hit one-of-two to run the lead to 20-6, Emery Range hit a jumper followed by a WT miss from deep but the Mustangs gave the ball back with a walk with 13:04 left in the half. WT turned the ball over as Jordan Enriquez finished the fast break layup before a Drew Evans reverse layup at 22-10 heading into the second media timeout with 11:48 left.
 
WT missed from deep after the break but J. Evans rejected a Western attempt as Rylan Gerber found White for an easy bucket followed by a Mustang air-ball from deep with 10:29 left and WT leading 24-10, Latrell Spivey registered his first bucket followed by misses on both ends as Ryan Quaid hit two free throws at 26-12. Brandon Williams answered with a jumper followed by a WT miss and an Eddie Giron board-and-score sent the teams into the media timeout with 7:35 left and WT leading 26-16.
 
The Buffs turned the ball over after the timeout followed by a Tommy Gove steal as Chavlovich connected on a three from the corner for his first bucket at 39-16 before McCray answered with a floater in the lane to force a WT timeout with 6:36 left and WT leading 29-18. WT missed inside and McCray hit a jumper followed by a WT offensive foul as Spivey cut the Buffs lead to 29-22, D. Evans ended the WT scoring drought with a bucket followed by a WT foul as McCray hit one-of-two at 31-23. White was fouled on a drive as the sophomore hit one-of-two at the line followed by a Prince steal-and-score to run the lead to 34-23 heading into a timeout with 4:02 left in the half.
 
Enriquez hit one-of-two at the line after the break followed by a WT turnover and a Range bucket at 34-26, the Buffs missed again as CJ VanBeekum connected on a floater before a WNMU foul allowed White to end the WT scoring drought with two at the line to extend the lead to 36-28. The Mustangs missed from deep as Garrett Brockman grabbed a board that led to a Western foul and two freebies by Chavlovich, WNMU answered with a free throw by Tyshaun Cooper followed by a WT miss before a White steal-and-slam at 39-29 with just under a minute left. White rejected a Western jumper as Prince drove the lane as time expired with the senior hitting one-of-two to send the teams into the locker room with WT leading 40-29.
 
The Buffs went 13-of-30 (43.3%) from the field in the first half including 5-of-15 (33.3%) from deep and 9-of-14 (64.3%) from the charity stripe to go along with 20 rebounds (eight offensive, 12 defensive), four assists, eight turnovers, three blocks and seven steals. J. Evans went 3-of-5 from the floor including 2-of-4 from deep to lead the Buffs with eight points at the break followed by White with seven while O'Laughlin grabbed five rebounds.
 
Western New Mexico was led by McCray with nine points in the first half as the sophomore went 3-of-3 from the floor and 2-of-2 from deep followed by Spivey and Range with four points each. The Mustangs went 12-of-27 (44.4%) from the field including 2-of-6 (33.3%) from deep and 3-of-6 (50%) from the free throw line to go along with 18 rebounds (six offensive, 12 defensive), four assists, 12 turnovers, one block and three steals.
 
Giron hit one-of-two at the line to start the second half before J. Evans knocked down a trey from the top of the key after a big Chavlovich offensive board, WNMU missed on their trip down the floor followed by another J. Evans bucket and misses on both ends before a Spivey bucket cut the WT lead to 45-32. O'Laughlin's board-and-slam was followed by a Range fade-away jumper on the baseline before White responded with a bucket in the lane at 49-34, White stole away a WNMU pass and finished on the other end to force a Mustangs timeout with 16:26 left and WT leading 51-34.
 
The Buffs missed from deep after the break followed by a WT foul as Spivey missed both from the line followed by another WT miss and a WNMU turnover with 15:11 left, White tip-in stopped the WT scoring drought followed by a Mustangs miss and a Golightly Jr. layup at 55-34. Cooper hit two free throws followed by a long WT possession as Golightly Jr. hit a long ball before a Range jumper at 58-38. Prince responded with a bucket followed by a J, Evans steal that led to a D. Evans fast break layup heading into a media timeout with 11:56 left and WT leading 62-38.
 
VanBeekum hit one-of-two free throws after the break followed by a Mustang foul as O'Laughlin hit one-of-two followed by an Alex Gonzalez Alvarez three from the wing at 63-42, Prince responded with a long ball of his own before a WNMU miss from deep led to a D. Evans bucket to run the lead to 68-42. Western hit a free throw followed by misses on both ends before Gonzalez-Alvarez hit another three at 68-46, another Mustang foul allowed O'Laughlin to hit one-of-two followed by a WNMU turnover that led to a Quaid bucket heading into a media timeout with 7:44 left and WT leading 71-46.
 
The teams traded misses after the break before J. Evans knocked down a three from the wing heading into a WT timeout with the Buffs leading 74-46, Quaid rejected a Western attempt as Chavlovich turned it into a layup followed by another Quaid block but the Buffs couldn't convert. Giron responded with a bucket followed by a Quaid layup before another Western layup at 78-50, Quaid hit two freebies followed by another WNMU miss and a Quaid bucket with a foul as the sophomore finished the three-point play at 83-50. The Mustangs missed from deep as Quaid finished under the bucket followed by a WT miss as the Buffs took an 85-50 lead into the final media timeout of the game with 3:50 left.
 
D. Evans grabbed an offensive board after the break that led to a Gerber bucket followed by a Western miss but the Buffs gave the ball back with an offensive foul, Range knocked down a jumper followed by a Brockman bucket before Trevin Ramirez hit a three from the wing at 89-55. D. Evans grabbed an offensive board as WT continued to milk the clock before another Quaid bucket at 91-55, Jordan Collins grabbed a board but WT couldn't connect on a dunk attempt followed by a WNMU miss from the free throw line to end the game, 91-55.
 
The Buffs went 34-of-73 (46.6%) from the floor including 9-of-29 (31%) from deep and 14-of-22 (63.6%) from the charity stripe to go along with 53 rebounds (20 offensive, 33 defenisve), 12 assists, nine turnovers, five blocks and nine steals. J. Evans went 6-of-11 from the floor and 4-of-8 from long range to lead the Buffs with 16 points followed by Quaid (15), White (13) and Prince (11).
 
WNMU went 21-of-56 (37.5%) from the field including 5-of-17 (29.4%) from long range and 8-of-18 (44.4%) from the free throw line to go along with 35 rebounds (11 offensive, 24 defensive), 10 assists, 17 turnovers, two blocks and four steals. Giron went 4-of-12 from the floor and 1-of-4 from deep to lead the Mustangs with 10 points while Range went 5-of-7 for 10 points as well.
 
UP NEXT
The Buffs return to the friendly confines of the First United Bank Center on Saturday afternoon as they take on the rival Greyhounds of Eastern New Mexico with tipoff set for 4 p.m. in Canyon.