CANYON, Texas – West Texas A&M junior guard David Chavlovich scored a career high 36 points and moved into third place on WT's all-time scoring list as the #14 Buffaloes started fast and never looked back in a 95-63 win over the NAIA's #5 Stars of Oklahoma City on New Year's Eve at the First United Bank Center in Canyon. The Buffs claim their 10^th straight victory to improve to 15-1 overall while the Stars remain at 11-1 on the season as Saturday's game was an exhibition for OCU.
 
The teams traded turnover to start the game before OCU registered the game's first points with a Cyrus McDonald steal-and-score, the teams traded misses before Eric Golightly Jr. drove the baseline for a layup followed by an OCU turnover on an inbound that led to a Skyler O'Laughlin board and bucket at 4-2. The teams traded misses followed by a charge call on the Buffs that led to a Xavier Smith three ball heading into the first media timeout of the game with OCU leading 5-4 with 15:34 left.
 
The teams traded misses again followed by a Jerrod Walton bucket from Tommy Gove before the Stars gave the ball back with a turnover, misses on both ends were followed by an OCU turnover that led to another O'Laughlin board and score at 8-5. Jordan Evans ended a scoring drought with a three from the top of the key followed by an OCU offensive foul heading into a media timeout with 11:25 left and WT leading 11-5.
 
The Buffs gave the ball back after the break with an offensive foul but the Starts turned the ball over as David Chavlovich hit a three from the wing at 14-5, Walter Rickett hit one-of-two at the line followed by an OCU block but the Stars gave the ball back with a turnover that led to a Golightly Jr. bucket at 16-6. The Stars committed an offensive foul followed by a Ryan Quaid bucket and an OCU miss from deep before Chavlovich found the bottom of the bucket with a floater to force an OCU timeout with 8:29 left and the Buffs leading 20-6 as the Buffs extended their run to 16-1.
 
The teams traded misses underneath followed by a Lou Dunbar jumper in the key before an WT miss from the baseline with 7:28 left, Dunbar knocked down another bucket followed by a Chavlovich jumper before a Jonathan Reed layup forced a WT timeout with 6:45 left in the half. Chavlovich hit a pull-up long ball followed by a WT foul as Terence Bonhomme hit one-of-two freebies at 25-13, Chavlovich answered with two at the line the followed by an OCU miss and a Gove baseline jumper at 29-13. The teams traded turnovers before a WT miss led to a Ryan Wiley layup from Bonhomme heading into the final media timeout of the half with WT leadin 29-15 with 3:57 left.
 
Eric Mosley hit one-of-two at the charity stripe followed by Rickett hitting one-of-two before Drew Evans responded with a layup at 32-16, Bonhomme answered with a layup followed by Chavlovich hitting two free throws before an OCU miss under the bucket but the Buffs were called for a charge with 2:34 left. Quaid rejected a Stars attempt that led to a D. Evans layup from Jerrod Walton followed by a Rickett putback dunk at 36-20, Walton hit two freebies followed by a Dunbar long ball from the wing and a WT turnover but the Stars missed from deep as Chavlovich hit two freebies at 40-23 with just under a minute left. The Stars missed from deep before Chavlovich banked in an NBA range three with a foul as the junior hit the free throw, OCU cut into the lead with a full-court pass on the inbound with a WT foul as Reed hit two at the line to head into the locker room with the Buffs leading 44-25.
 
The Buffs went 15-of-36 (41.7%) from the floor in the first half including 4-of-14 (28.6%) from deep and 10-of-12 (83.3%) from the free throw line to go along with 25 rebounds (nine offensive, 16 defensive), six assists, seven turnovers, two blocks and four steals. Chavlovich went 5-of-11 from the floor and 3-of-6 from deep to lead all players with 20 points at the break followed by Golightly Jr., O'Laughlin, D. Evans and Walton with four points each while Quaid grabbed seven boards in the first half.
 
Oklahoma City went 9-of-23 (39.1%) from the field including 2-of-7 (28.6%) from long range and 5-of-9 (55.6%) from the free throw line with 16 rebounds (two offensive, 14 defensive), three assists, 12 turnovers, one block and one steal. Dunbar went 3-of-5 from the field and 1-of-3 from deep to lead the Stars at the break with seven points followed by Rickett and Reed with four points each.
 
Tyler Alderman started off the scoring with a turnaround jumper in the paint followed by a WT miss and two Bonhomme free throws at 44-28, J. Evans answered with a baseline layup followed by misses on both ends before a WT foul that led to Smith hitting two at the charity stripe at 46-31. Chavlovich hit a three from the corner to pull him within two points of Price Brookfield (1940-42 | 1,406) for third place all-time on WT's scoring list followed by an OCU miss that led to a Walton three from the top of the key at 52-31, Chavlovich moved into third place with another long ball form the wing at 55-31 before Alderman answered with a bucket to head into a media timeout with 15:57 left and WT leading 55-33.
 
Smith cut into the lead after the break with a bucket on the inbound following a media timeout with a free throw for the three-point play followed by a Chavlovich pull-up jumper at 57-36, Alderman responded with a bucket followed by a WT miss from deep that led to a Brandon Patten alley-oop fast break slam at 57-40. OCU stole away an errant WT pass as Patten knocked down a three from the corner but Chavlovich answered with a long bal with 12:55 left, Reed found Smith for a slam followed by a technical foul on the Stars as Chavlovich hit both at the line followed by a WT miss and buckets on both ends heading into a media timeout with 11:22 left and WT leading 64-47.
 
Chavlovich hit three free throws after the break to run his game total to 36 points for a new career high followed by Bonhomme hitting one-of-two at the line at 67-48, O'Laughlin responded with a turnaround jumper in the paint followed by a jump-ball situation heading into an OCU timeout with 10:20 left and the Buffs leading 69-48. Bonhomme was fouled behind the arc as the junior hit two-of-three followed by a Golightly Jr. baseline layup before McDonald hit one at the free throw line at 71-51. Golightly Jr. hit a three from the wing followed by an OCU miss before the Buffs were called for a charge with 9:13 left, the teams traded misses before Gove hit two freebies followed by a WT foul as Bonhomme hit one at the line at 76-52 heading into a media timeout with 7:56 left.
 
J. Evans hit two at the charity stripe after the break followed by a Stars turnover but the teams traded misses before J. Evans knocked down a three from the top of the key at 81-52, OCU missed two at the line followed by misses on both ends before Walton hit a long ball with just under six minutes left. Garrett Brockman knocked down two at the line followed by an OCU miss from deep that led to a Jordan Collins long ball from the top of the key at 89-52 before the Stars responded with a layup with a foul as McDonald finished the three-point play followed by a Bonhomme trey heading into the final media timeout of the game with WT leading 89-58 with 3:26 left.
 
OCU missed twice from the charity stripe followed by a big Rylan Gerber offensive board that led to Mosley hitting two freebies at 91-58, the teams traded turnovers followed by a WT foul as Alex James hit one at the line before another Buffalo turnover with 1:36 left. Collins grabbed a big board that led to a fast break layup by the freshman followed by a James bucket from Reed before Brockman hit two at the charity stripe followed by a James layup to end the game, 95-63.
 
Chavlovich finished the game with a career high 36 points to match the highest point total by a Lone Star Conference player this season, it also ties for 10^th all-time for the most points scored by a Buff in a single-game with Cedrick Wilbon (1/8/96) and Simmie Hill (1968, 1969). The junior moved into third place on WT's scoring list as he went 9-of-19 from the floor, 6-of-10 from deep and 12-of-12 from the free throw line followed by J. Evans and Walton with 10 points each while Quaid grabbed 10 rebounds in the win. WT went 29-of-65 (44.6%) from the floor including 12-of-30 (40%) from deep and 25-of-29 (86.2%) from the free throw line to go along with 47 rebounds (15 offensive, 32 defensive), 14 assists, 14 turnovers, four blocks and seven steals.
 
The Stars went 21-of-54 (38.9%) from the field including 4-of-16 (25%) from deep and 17-of-30 (56.7%) from the free throw line to go along with 33 rebounds (nine offensive, 24 defensive), 11 assists, 18 turnovers, three blocks and four steals. Smith and Bonhomme led the way for OCU with 12 points each while Smith grabbed seven rebounds on the afternoon.
 
UP NEXT
The Buffs return to action on Thursday night as they jump back into Lone Star Conference action with a road trip to Wichita Falls, Texas to take on the Mustangs of Midwestern State with tipoff set for 7:30 p.m. at D.L. Ligon Coliseum.