CANYON, Texas – The #15 Buffaloes of West Texas A&M had four players in double-figures including 21 by junior guard Jerrod Walton as WT moved to 11-0 inside of the First United Bank Center in a 80-65 win over the Javelinas of Texas A&M-Kingsville in Lone Star Conference action on Saturday in Canyon. The Buffs move to 18-2 (6-1 LSC) on the season while Kingsville falls to 8-7 (1-5 LSC) overall.
 
The Buffs turned the ball over on their first possession as Caelan Neal started the scoring with a layup followed by a WT miss from deep before a Kingsville turnover with 18:58 left, Jordan Evans got the Buffs on the board with one at the line followed by a Trey Sumpter long ball from the wing before a Ryan Quaid turnaround baseline hook at 3-5. Kingsville turned the ball over as Joseph Prince hit a three from the corner followed by a Duan Wright bucket but Prince answered with a baseline jumper followed by misses on both ends and a Derrick Boyd jumper at 8-9, the teams traded misses before a Wright layup and foul heading into a media timeout with 14:31 left and TAMUK leading 11-8.
 
Wright finished off the three-point play after the break followed by a Carl White floater in the paint and a Justin Jones long ball from the top of the key at 10-15, White responded with a jumper followed by a Thomas Diaz baseline layup and misses on both ends before Eric Golightly Jr. finished under the bucket at 14-17 heading into a media timeout with 11:56 left. The teams traded misses after the break followed by a Jerrod Walton steal and fast break layup with a foul as the junior finished off the three-point play at 17-17. TAMUK gave the ball back with an illegal screen followed by a Javelina foul as Evans went one-of-two at the line followed by a Sumpter trey from the wing before Evans hit two freebies at 20-20, Elliot Taylor answered with a bucket followed by a WT turnover but TAMUK couldn't convert as a Tommy Gove rebound led to a Skyler O'Laughlin bucket at 22-22.
 
Taylor hit two at the charity stripe followed by misses on both ends before Walton hit a transition three from the wing followed by O'Laughlin drawing a charge to head into the media timeout with 7:19 left. Robert Stevenson missed both at the line followed by a WT miss in the paint and a Kingsville illegal screen as White hit both free throws at 27-24, the teams traded possessions before a Kingsville foul led to Quaid hitting two free throws at 29-24 before Gove picked off an errant pass and Prince hit a transition three to force a Javelinas timeout with 4:43 left and WT leading 32-24.
 
Neal cut into the lead with a layup after the break followed by WT missing both at the stripe heading into a media timeout with 3:49 left and WT leading 32-26. The teams traded possessions before Sumpter hit one-of-two at the line followed by a Prince board-and-bucket at 34-27, White knocked away a Kingsville pass as Golightly Jr. finished with a reverse baseline layup followed by a TAMUK miss and an Evans bucket from White at 38-27. Christian Bambrook hit two freebies followed by a Kingsville foul and a Golightly Jr. bucket as the senior finished off the three-point play at 41-29, the teams traded possessions before White found Golightly Jr. for an easy layup followed by Sumpter hitting a free throw heading into the locker room with WT leading 43-30.
 
The Buffs went 15-of-30 (50%) from the floor in the first half including 3-of-13 (23.1%) from deep and 10-of-16 (62.5%) from the free throw line to go along with 18 rebounds (three offensive, 15 defensive), seven assists, five turnovers, no blocks and five steals. Prince led the Buffs at the break with 10 points as the senior went 4-of-6 from the floor and 2-of-4 from deep followed by Golightly Jr. with nine points while Quaid grabbed four rebounds.
 
Texas A&M-Kingsville was led at the break by Sumpter with eight points as the junior went 2-of-4 from the floor and 2-of-2 from deep followed by Wright with five points while Sumpter grabbed six rebounds in the half. The Javelinas went 10-of-28 (35.7%) from the floor in the first half including 3-of-6 (50%) from deep and 7-of-12 (58.3%) from the free throw line with 21 rebounds (seven offensive, 14 defensive), six assists, 10 turnovers, one block and two steals.
 
Wright found Taylor for a layup to start the second half followed by a WT miss from deep followed by a Taylor bucket at 43-34, the teams traded misses followed by a Quaid bucket from White and a Buffalo foul but Byrd missed both at the line followed by a TAMUK foul as White hit two at 47-34. Jones knocked down a three from the corner followed by a Walton layup on the inbound play and a Kingsville turnover heading into a media timeout with 15:45 left and WT leading 49-37.
 
The Buffs turned the ball over after the break as Sumpter hit two at the line followed by a Buffalo turnover with 14:50 left, Kingsville missed on their end as Gove scored on an inbound play under the bucket followed by a WT foul as Stevenson hit one-of-two freebies with a WT technical foul as Neal hit both at 52-42. Golightly Jr. finished in the paint with a floater followed by a Stevenson slam and Walton hitting one-of-two at 54-44, Quaid found Evans for a bucket heading into a timeout with 12:16 left and WT leading 56-44. White picked off a Kingsville pass followed by a WT miss from deep and a Golightly Jr. block heading into a media timeout with WT leading 56-44 with 11:33 left.
 
White blocked a Kingsville attempt after the break as Evans knocked down a long ball from the wing followed by an Evans steal and Kingsville foul as Walton hit one-of-two at 60-44, the teams traded misses followed by a Taylor bucket and misses on both ends before Evans hit two free throws and the Javelinas missed on their end and Evans grabbed an offensive board heading into a media timeout with 7:31 left and the Buffs leading 62-46.
 
Walton hit two at the charity stripe followed by a Taylor bucket and a Kingsville steal and score at 64-50 heading into a WT timeout with 7:00 left. Golightly Jr. hit two at the stripe followed by a Sumpter layup and misses on both ends before Sumpter added to his total with two at the line at 66-54, WT turned the ball over as Marcus Frazier hit a three from the corner followed by a WT miss from deep and Gove drawing a charge with 4:55 left. Gove knocked down a long ball in the corner for the Buffs followed by a WT foul as Jones missed the front end of a one-and-one before Walton hit two at the line and White rejected two more TAMUK shots that led to a Walton layup heading into a media timeout with 2:24 left and WT leading 73-57.
 
Walton hit two at the line after the break followed by a Frazier long ball from the wing and a Kingsville steal that led to a Sumpter long ball to cut the lead to 75-63, the teams traded turnovers followed by Gove hitting two at the line before a Kingsville miss that sealed the win before Eric Mosley bounced in a three from the wing as the shot clock expired before Frazier hit a jumper to end the game, 80-65.
 
The Buffs went 24-of53 (45.3%) from the floor including 6-of-25 (24%) from deep and 26-of-34 (76.5%) from the free throw line to go along with 40 rebounds (eight offensive, 32 defensive), 13 assists, 12 turnovers, five blocks and seven steals. Walton led the way for the Buffs with 18 points as the junior went 4-of-8 from the field and 9-of-11 from the stripe followed by Golightly Jr. (13), Evans (13) and Prince (10) in double figures while Evans grabbed eight rebounds.
 
TAMUK went 22-of-59 (37.3%) from the field in the game including 7-of-15 (46.7%) from long range and 14-of-24 (58.3%) from the line to go along with 39 rebounds (13 offensive, 26 defensive), 15 assists, 15 turnovers, two blocks and seven steals. Sumpter led the Javelinas with 19 points as he went 5-of-10 from the floor and 3-of-4 from deep to go along with 12 rebounds for a double-double followed by Taylor with 12 points.  
 
UP NEXT
The Buffs start a five-game road trip on Thursday night as they head to Stephenville, Texas for a matchup with the #13 Texans of Tarleton State in a battle of the top two teams in the LSC standings with tipoff set for 7:30 p.m. inside of Wisdom Gym. The Texans (14-2, 6-1 LSC) host Arlington Baptist in non-conference action tonight (7 p.m.) in Stephenville.