KINGSVILLE, Texas – The Buffaloes of West Texas A&M trailed by just five points at the break but Texas A&M Kingsville shot 52% from the floor in the second half as they outlasted WT, 76-59 in front of over 500 fans at the Steinke Center in Kingsville, Texas on Thursday night in Lone Star Conference action. The Buffs fall to 21-7 (9-6 LSC) on the season while the Javelinas improve to 15-9 (8-7 LSC) overall.
 
The Buffs went 9-of-26 (34.6%) from the field in the first half including 5-of-11 (45.5%) from long range and 4-of-9 (44.4%) from the charity stripe with 18 rebounds (seven offensive, 11 defensive), five assists, 13 turnovers, no blocks and three steals. David Chavlovich led the Buffs at the break as the junior went 3-of-7 from the floor and 1-of-3 from deep with eight points followed by Jordan Evans with six while Skyler O'Laughlin grabbed three rebounds.
 
TAMUK was led at the half by Derrick Byrd who went 2-of-2 from the floor and 6-of-6 from the free throw line to score 10 points in the first period followed by Duan Wright with eight while Elliot Taylor, Robert Stevenson and Thomas Diaz had three rebounds each. The Javelinas went 11-of-26 (42.3%) from the floor in the half including 3-of-8 (37.5%) from deep and 7-of-11 (63.9%) from the free throw line with 18 rebounds (six offensive, 12 defensive), six assists, nine turnovers, five blocks and seven steals.
 
WT was led by Eric Mosley who went 4-of-7 from the floor and 3-of-3 from deep to score 13 points in his third career start followed by Chavlovich and Evans with 11 points each while Mosley and O'Laughlin grabbed five rebounds each. The Buffs went 19-of-55 (34.5%) from the floor including 9-of-25 (36%) from deep and 12-of-20 (60%) from the charity stripe with 36 rebounds (16 offensive, 19 defensive), 10 assists, 21 turnovers, no blocks and seven steals.
 
The Javelinas went 24-of-51 (47.1%) from the floor including 6-of-15 (40%) from deep and 22-of-29 (75.9%) from the free throw line with 35 rebounds (11 offensive, 24 defensive), 12 assists, 18 turnovers, eight blocks and 13 steals. TAMUK was led offensively by Wright who went 8-of-12 from the floor and 3-of-5 from deep to score 22 points followed by Byrd (21) and Marcus Frazier (11) in double-figures while Stevenson grabbed eight rebounds.
 
The Buffs finish off their regular season road schedule on Saturday afternoon as they head to San Angelo, Texas to take on the Rams of Angelo State with tipoff set for 4 p.m. at the Junell Center. The Rams (14-9, 6-9 LSC) fell to UT Permian Basin, 93-90 on Thursday night in San Angelo.