CANYON, Texas – The #15 Buffaloes of West Texas A&M had five players in double figures and shot 54.1% from the floor as they remained unbeaten inside of the First United Bank Center on Thursday night with a 104-96 Lone  Star Conference win over the #17 Rams of Angelo State in front of over 1,100 fans in Canyon. The Buffs move to 17-2 (5-1 LSC) on the season while the Rams drop their third straight contest to fall to 10-3 (2-3 LSC) overall.
 
The Buff started off the scoring with a Ryan Quaid baseline jumper from David Chavlovich followed by a Brandon Williams jumper at 2-2, Jordan Evans responded with a bucket in the paint followed by turnovers on both ends before a Quay King floater and misses on both ends as Quaid found Carl White at 6-4. The Rams missed from deep followed by a WT miss from behind the arc before a Quaid rebound and Jordan Evans bucket at 8-4 heading into a media timeout with 15:45 left in the half.
 
Williams hit both at the line followed by an Evans long ball from the wing and a Skyler O'Laughlin steal but WT would miss from deep to lead to a Buffalo foul as King hit one-of-two at the stripe at 11-7, Evans found O'Laughlin for a bucket followed by an ASU miss but the Buffs gave it right back with an illegal screen call with 14:25 left. Angelo turned the ball over again that led to a Quaid board-and-score followed by a Rams turnover that led to a White slam at 17-7, ASU responded with seven straight points including a long ball from King followed by a Thomas Tshikaya jumper before Tommy Gove hit a three from the wing heading into a media timeout with 11:14 left and the Buffs leading 20-14.
 
The teams traded misses after the break before Devonte' Pratt hit a three from the wing followed by a WT turnover and a Pratt fast break layup to force a WT timeout with 9:58 left and the Buffs leading 20-19. Evans hit a three from Quaid after the break followed by an ASU miss from deep and a Chavlovich floater off of the glass at 25-19, the teams traded misses from deep followed by an Evans rejection but the Buffs couldn't convert on their end heading into a media timeout with 7:42 left and WT leading 25-19.
 
The Rams turned the ball over after the break followed by a White layup and a Tshikaya long ball from the top of the wing, White responded with a three from the wing followed by a Drew Evans rebound and Chavlovich transition three at 33-22. Angelo turned the ball over again followed by a Chavlovich bucket and an ASU miss from deep with 5:12 left and the Buffs leading 35-22 heading into a Rams timeout. J. Evans hit one-of-two at the line followed by a three-point play from Tshikaya and misses on both ends before Jerrod Walton hit two freebies at 38-25, Pratt hit two at the line followed by two freebies by Eric Golightly Jr. heading into the final media timeout of the half with WT leading 40-27 with 3:53 left.
 
Lorenzo Dillard hit one-of-two at the line after the break followed by J. Evans hitting two freebies before misses on both ends and a Devaughn Jenkins bucket at 42-30, the teams traded turnover before J. Evans knocked down a transition three from the wing followed by a Williams turnaround in the paint at 45-32. Chavlovich found Golightly Jr. for a layup followed by an ASU miss from deep but the Buffs gave the ball back with an illegal screen call with 1:25 left, the teams traded possessions followed by a Williams spin and slam before Chavlovich drove the lane and finished with an old fashioned three-point play at 50-34. Pratt cut into the lead with a layup on the inbound play heading into the locker room with the Buffs leading 50-36.
 
The Buffs went 18-of-34 (52.9%) from the floor in the period including 6-of-18 (33.3%) from deep and 8-of-9 (88.9%) from the charity stripe with 20 rebounds (four offensive, 16 defensive), nine assists, five turnovers, no blocks and one steal. J. Evans went 5-of-7 from the floor and 3-of-5 from behind the arc in the half to lead all players with 16 points followed by Chavlovich with 10 while Quaid grabbed five rebounds.
 
Angelo State went 13-of-31 (41.9%) from the field in the first half including 3-of-10 (30%) from behind the arc and 7-of-9 (77.8%) from the free throw line to go along with 15 rebounds (three offensive, 12 defensive), six assists, seven turnovers, one block and one steal. Tshikaya went 4-of-5 from the floor and 1-of-2 from deep to lead the Rams with 10 points at the break followed by Pratt with nine points and three rebounds.
 
Quaid grabbed a defensive board to start the second half that led to a three from the wing by the sophomore at 53-36, the teams traded possessions followed by a Pratt fast break layup from Tshikaya and an ASU foul as Quaid hit two at the stripe before Dillard responded with a three-point play at 55-41. Chavlovich found Quaid for a bucket followed by an Angelo turnover and a WT miss and foul as King hit one-of-two at the line at 57-42, Pratt's steal-and-slam was followed by Rams foul and an O'Laughlin bucket before a Chavlovich rebound and O'Laughlin fast break slam at 61-44 heading into a media timeout with 15:56 left.
 
Dillard hit two freebies after the break followed by an illegal screen call on the Buffs and a WT foul as Tshikaya hit two at the line at 61-48, J. Evans grabbed an offensive board and finished to stop the ASU run followed by a Tshikaya jumper before Golightly Jr. found White for a slam at 65-51 headed into a WT timeout with 14:10 left. Dillard hit two free throws followed by another White bucket and a WT foul as Michael Thomas hit two freebies at 67-55, the teams traded possessions before King hit two free throws and WT missed from deep which led to a fast break layup by the Rams followed by Chavlovich hitting two freebies and a jump ball and ASU foul heading into a media timeout with 11:34 left and the Buffs leading 69-59.
 
Gove hit two at the charity stripe after the break followed by possessions on both ends before a WT rejection lead to a J. Evans long ball from the top of the key with 10:00 left and the Buffs leading 74-59 heading into an Angelo timeout. The Rams missed from deep after the break followed by a WT turnover but the Rams gave it right back as Gove hit two at the charity stripe at 76-59, Pratt knocked down a three from the corner followed by a Quaid three-point play, ASU missed again as Joseph Prince added to the WT lead followed by a Dillard bucket and a WT miss from deep heading into a media timeout with 7:07 left and WT leading 81-64.
 
Dillard hit two at the line followed by a WT miss that led to a Jenkins fast break slam at 81-68, Angelo cut into the lead with a Dillard fast break layup followed by a Chavlovich baseline bucket from White and a WT foul as Dillard hit one-of-two at 83-71 with 5:18 left. The Buffs missed the front end at the line followed by a King jumper and a Buffalo turnover with 4:45 left, Pratt scored on an inbound play followed by Chavlovich hitting three at the line and Gove drawing a charge heading into the last media timeout of the game with WT leading 86-75 with 3:56 left.
 
Chavlovich knocked down a jumper after the break followed by a WT foul as Napoleon Onyeje Jr. hit two at the line before Gove knocked down a three from the wing as the shot clock expired at 91-77, Angelo answered with a bucket followed by a Golightly Jr. jumper before a Tshikaya layup forced an ASU timeout with 1:54 left and the Buffs leading 93-81.
 
Quaid added to the WT lead with a slam followed by a Dillard bucket and an ASU foul as Golightly Jr. hit one-of-two and Quaid grabbed an offensive board with just over a minute left, Gove hit one-of-two at the line followed by a King three to force ASU's final timeout of the game with 59.4 left and WT leading 97-86. White was fouled on the inbound as the sophomore hit both followed by a Jenkins jumper at 99-88 to force a WT timeout with 45.0 left, Quaid hit one-of-two at the line followed by a Tshikaya board-and-score and an Angelo foul as Chavlovich hit both before a King long ball from the wing and Angelo foul as Chavlovich hit two more at 104-93 followed by another King three to end the game at 104-96.
 
The Buffs were led offensively by Chavlovich with 23 points on the night followed by J. Evans (21), Quaid (17), White (15) and Gove (11) while Quaid led the team with eight rebounds on the night. WT went 33-of-61 (54.1%) from the field including 9-of-29 (31%) from deep and 29-of-34 (85.3%) from the free throw line with 32 rebounds (seven offensive, 25 defenisve), 18 assists, 10 turnovers, two blocks and five steals.
Angelo State went 32-of-65 (49.2%) from the floor including 8-of-18 (44.4%) from behind the arc and 24-of-28 (85.7%) from the free throw line with 34 rebounds (10 offensive, 24 defensive), 15 assists, 13 turnovers, two blocks and two steals. King went 6-of-13 from the field and 4-of-9 from deep to lead the Rams with 20 points followed by Tshikaya (19), Pratt (18) and Dillard (17).
 
UP NEXT
The Buffaloes will play their final home game of January on Saturday afternoon as they host the Javelinas of Texas A&M-Kingsville with tipoff set for 4 p.m. in Canyon. TAMUK enters the weekend with an overall record of 8-6 (1-4 LSC) following an 83-76 loss at UT Permian Basin on Thursday night in Odessa.