STEPHENVILLE, Texas – The West Texas A&M Buffaloes trailed by just six at the break before a long shooting slump in the second half as a late rally fell just short as the Tarleton State Texans claimed a 87-82 Lone Star Conference victory over WT in front of 2,500 fans at Wisdom Gym in Stephenville, Texas. The win lifts the Texans to 19-7 (8-5 LSC) on the season while the Buffs fall into a four-way tie for second place in the LSC with an overall mark of 20-9 (8-5 LSC).
 
The Buffs took an early 6-2 lead on two David Chavlovich buckets before the Texans responded with nine straight points highlighted by a Michael Hardge long ball at 11-6, WT answered with another Chavlovich bucket and a Jerrod Walton layup to cut the lead to one before the teams traded buckets as a Jordan Evans trey tied the game at 13-13 heading into a media timeout. The teams traded buckets again as a Malcolm Hamilton jumper gave the Texans a 22-18 lead as that sparked a TSU run with a Xavier Smith slam gave TSU the 34-25 lead. The Buffs answered again as Chavlovich hit two free throws followed by a Tarleton State turnover that led to a Walton layup with five seconds left in the half as TSU took the 34-28 lead into the locker room.
 
The Buffs went 11-of-26 (42.3%) from the floor in the first half including 3-of-11 (27.3%) from long range and 3-of-4 (75%) from the charity stripe to go along with 13 rebounds (two offensive, 11 defensive), eight fouls, three assists, eight turnovers, no blocks and five steals. Chavlovich went 5-of-9 from the floor and 1-of-3 from behind the arc to lead the Buffs with 13 points at the break to go along with four rebounds.
 
Tarleton State went 13-of-26 (50%) from the field including 5-of-12 (41.7%) from deep and 3-of-4 (75%) from the free throw line to go along with 17 rebounds (three offensive, 14 defensive), eight fouls, seven assists, eight turnovers, one block and three steals. EJ Reed went 3-of-8 from the floor including 1-of-1 from the charity stripe to score eight points in the first half followed by Hardge with seven.
 
The teams traded buckets to start the second half as Tommy Gove found Ryan Quaid under the bucket for an easy layup before the Texans answered with a trey by Reed at 39-30, Tarleton hit one-of-two from the line to run their lead back to double-digits followed by bad possessions before Walton hit two freebies before a TSU jumper in the paint heading into a media timeout with 15:44 left and TSU leading 42-32. Walton hit one-of-two at the line before Hardge answered with another bucket followed by a TSU rejection that led to two more Texan freebies at 46-33, WT continued to struggle from the floor as they missed a jumper as Tarleton hit three free throws.
 
Chavlovich hit two free throws before Tarleton answered again with another layup followed by a Buff turnover that led to a Reed putback slam to run the Tarleton State lead to 53-35, Gove hit two free throws before the Buffs gave up a transition dunk heading into a media timeout with 11:56 left and the Texans leading 55-37. The Wisdom Gym crowd erupted after the break as they connected on back-to-back fast break dunks followed by another WT miss and a Reed turnaround jumper before Quaid responded with a bucket at 61-44, Tarleton registered a layup heading into a timeout followed by misses on both ends before Hardge finished in the lane at 65-44.
 
The Buffs continued to struggle from the floor as the Texans added to their lead with a Chantz Chambers three-point play followed by turnovers on both ends, the Texans continued to roll as Hamilton slammed home a fast break opportunity heading into a WT timeout with TSU leading 72-47 with 6:16 left. Walton hit a long ball from the corner after the break followed by a TSU turnover that led to a Walton bucket and foul as he completed the three-point play at 72-53, another TSU foul allowed Jeff Bonner to hit one-of-two from the line followed by misses on both ends before Chavlovich hit two freebies at 75-57. Tarleton answered with a Xavier Smith layup before Evans connected on a jumper before a WT foul sent the teams into the last media timeout of the game with 3:04 left.
 
Hardge hit two from the line after the break before Joseph Prince hitting two freebies followed by another TSU bucket and a WT turnover that led to a Charles Hill free throw at 82-61, Eric Golightly Jr. answered with two free throws heading into a timeout before two Tarleton turnovers that led to six WT points as Chander Fuzak hit two freebies at 82-67. The Texans missed two free throws followed by Garrett Brockman hitting one-of-two at the line with a TSU turnover with 1:13 left, Golightly Jr. hit two at the line followed by another Texans turnover that led to an Evans long ball heading into a timeout with 52 seconds left and TSU leading 82-75. Hill stopped the WT run with a bucket followed by a TSU offensive board and turnover as Bonner hit two freebies before Hardge missed both and Golightly Jr. hit a trey from the wing at 84-80 with 16.6 left. Hardge hit two at the line followed by a quick Prince layup and another WT foul and two more TSU free throws at the Texans took the 87-82 win.
 
The Buffs went 22-of-56 (39.3%) from the floor in the game including 7-of-22 (31.8%) from deep and 31-of-39 (79.5%) from the free throw line to go along with 33 rebounds (11 offensive, 22 defensive), 29 fouls, six assists, 17 turnovers, no blocks and 10 steals. Chavlovich went 6-of-12 from the floor and 2-of-4 from deep to lead WT with 19 points followed by Walton (16), Golightly Jr. (11), Prince (11) in double-digits.
 
Tarleton State went 29-of-53 (54.7%) from the field including 6-of-17 (35.3%) from deep and 23-of-37 (62.2%) from the charity stripe to go along with 38 total rebounds (10 offensive, 28 defensive), 31 fouls, 15 assists, 19 turnovers, three blocks and 10 steals. Hardge went 6-of-11 from the floor and 8-of-15 from the free throw line to lead all scorers with 21 points followed by Reed (17), Jenkins (13) and Hamilton (11) while Jenkins grabbed  game high nine rebounds.
 
The Buffs will now wait a week before their final regular season contest as they travel West down Highway 60 for a rivalry matchup with the Eastern New Mexico Greyhounds next Saturday night with tipoff set for 8:30 p.m. CT. at Greyhound Arena. The Buffs rolled the Hounds (97-64) back on January 30^th in Canyon, ENMU fell to Texas A&M-Commerce (73-81) on Saturday night in Commerce, Texas.