LAS VEGAS, Nevada – The #19 Buffaloes of West Texas A&M hit 17 treys and had five different players in double-figures on Monday afternoon as they ran their win streak to nine games with an 89-68 win over Rollins inside of the Doolittle Center in Las Vegas, Nevada during the South Point Holiday Hoops Classic. The Buffs improve to 14-1 overall while the Tars fall to 7-5.
 
The Buffs started off the scoring as David Chavlovich hit a three on WT's first possession followed by a Rollins miss that led to a Joseph Prince transition trey from the wing at 6-0, the Tars responded with a bucket but the Buffs continued to roll as Prince knocked down another long ball followed by a Rollins turnover that led to another Prince long ball at 12-2. The Tars hit one-of-two from the line followed by an Eric Golightly Jr. jumper, the teams traded misses before Ryan Quaid hit one at the charity stripe followed by buckets on both ends as Jordan Evans added to the WT lead followed by a Tars miss and a Quaid jumper at 19-5 with 14:53 left.
 
The Buffs turned a Rollins technical foul into a Golightly Jr. free throw followed by misses on both ends and a Joey Galvis three from the wing at 20-8, the Buffs gave the ball back with a turnover followed by a pair of Rollins freebies before misses on both ends followed by a Skyler O'Laughlin dunk at 22-10. The Tars responded with a Sam Philpott layup before Tommy Gove added to the Buffalo lead with a trey at 25-12, the teams traded misses again before a Rollins bucket but the Buffs would answer again with an Evans long ball from the wing on a pass from Garrett Brockman. Rollins hit one-two at the charity stripe followed by a Prince jumper heading into a media timeout with 9:51 left and the Buffs leading 30-15.
 
Connor McKim knocked down two freebies after the break followed by a Quaid jumper and foul for the old-fashioned three-point play at 33-17, the teams traded turnovers before Prince hit another long ball to run his point total to 14 while extending the WT lead. Golightly Jr. registered WT's next three points with a free throw followed by a layup before turnovers on both ends heading into a Tars timeout with 6:59 left and the Buffs leading 39-17. The Tars cut into the lead with a Philpott layup after the break but Golightly Jr. answered with a jumper followed by a Rollins long ball at 41-22, the teams traded misses from deep before Philpott knocked down a jumper heading into the last media timeout of the half with WT leading 41-24 with 4:45 left.
 
Chavlovich added to his point total after the break with a long ball followed by a Rollins bucket and a WT foul as the Tars hit two at the charity stripe at 44-28, O'Laughlin answered with a board-and-slam followed by turnovers on both ends as a Prince steal led to the Palmdale native hitting two at the line to run the lead to 48-28 with just under two minutes left. Prince struck again with a slam off of a Chavlovich defensive board followed by turnovers on both ends before Galvis hit two at the charity stripe at 50-30. Chavlovich responded with a long ball from the wing followed by two more Galvis free throws at 53-32, the teams traded bad possessions before the Buffs fouled with just four seconds left in the period as McKim hit two at the line to send the teams into the locker room with WT leading 53-34.
 
The Buffs went 19-of-35 (54.3%) from the floor in the first half including 9-of-19 (47.4%) from long range and 6-of-10 (60%) from the free throw line to go along with 22 rebounds (eight offensive, 14 defensive), 16 assists, nine turnovers, no blocks and six steals. Prince went 6-of-9 from the floor in the opening period including 4-of-7 from deep to lead all players with 18 points followed by Chavlovich with nine and Golightly Jr. with eight to go along with five rebounds.
 
Rollins went 9-of-22 (40.9%) from the field in the opening period including 2-of-9 (22.2%) from deep and 14-of-18 (77.8%) from the charity stripe to go along with 12 rebounds (one offensive, 11 defensive), five assists, 10 turnovers, one block and two steals. Philpott went 4-of-6 from the floor and 1-of-4 from the free throw line in the first half to lead the Tars with nine points followed by McKim with eight and Galvis with seven.
 
Philpott hit two freebies to start the scoring in the second half followed by a WT misses on both ends before Evans connected on a layup followed by a Philpott three-point play at 55-39, Gove answered with his second long ball of the afternoon followed by turnovers on both ends and another Gove three to push the WT lead to 61-39. McKim answered with a layup followed by a WT turnover and Rollins free throw before a Chavlovich layup and misses on both ends. Chavlovich added to his point total with a long ball followed by a Rollins jumper before Evans responded again with a trey as WT took a 69-44 lead with 13:24 left.
 
The Tars cut into the lead with a layup after the timeout followed by a WT miss from deep and a Philpott bucket before a Tars turnover led to an Evans layup at 71-48, Rollins answered with another bucket before Chavlovich hit a long ball followed by another Tars turnover and a Golightly Jr. three to run the WT lead to 77-50 to force a Rollins timeout with 9:37 left. Rollins cut into the lead again with a layup but Chavlovich responded with a three on a pass from Brockman at 80-52, Jeff Merton hit two at the charity stripe for the Tars followed by a Drew Evans trey before the teams traded buckets heading into a media timeout with WT leading 85-58.
 
Merton hit a three after the break followed by a pair of D. Evans free throws before Merton scored the next three points for the Tars to cut the lead to 87-66, D. Evans hit two more at the charity stripe followed by turnovers on both ends before a Rollins layup to give the Buffs the 89-68 victory.
 
The Buffs went 31-of-58 (53.4%) from the floor including an impressive 17-of-34 (50%) from deep and 10-of-14 (71.4%) from the free throw line to connect on the most made treys in a Lone Star Conference game this season while grabbing 36 rebounds (13 offensive, 23 defensive), 26 assists, 23 turnovers, three blocks and 11 steals. Chavlovich went 7-of-14 from the floor and 6-of-11 from deep to lead the Buffs with 20 points followed by Prince (18), D. Evans (11), Golightly Jr. (11) and J. Evans (10) while Chavlovich dished out 11 assists for the double-double. Prince was named to the All-Tournament Team while Chavlovich picked up the event's Most Outstanding Player honor.
 
Rollins was led by Philpott who went 6-of-9 from the floor and 5-of-9 from the free throw line with 17 points followed by McKim with 12 and Merton with 10 to go along with five rebounds. The Tars went 22-of-46 (47.8%) from the floor including 3-of-14 (21.4%) from deep and 21-of-27 (77.8%) from the free throw line to go along with 19 rebounds (two offensive, 17 defensive), 13 assists, 18 turnovers, two blocks and 10 steals.
 
UP NEXT
The Buffs will now take part in the NCAA holiday break before taking on the NAIA's #5 Stars of Oklahoma City (10-1, 2-0 SAC) on New Year's Eve at the First United Bank Center in Canyon with tipoff set for 1 p.m.