ALAMOSA, Colo. – West Texas A&M men's basketball head coach Tom Brown earned his 100th career win as the Buffs made a season-high 15 three-pointers in a 112-87 win over Adams State at Plachy Hall Gym in Alamosa, Colo. All 11 players scored for the No. 4 Buffs as Ryan Quaid and Qua Grant combined to score 46 points as WT improved to 4-1 on the season.
THE BASICS
The Matchup: #4 West Texas A&M 112, Adams State 87
Records: #4 West Texas A&M (4-1), Adams State (0-2)
Venue: Plachy Hall Gym
Location: Alamosa, Colo.
Adams State opened the scoring on a layup by Rickey Norris before Ran Quaid made a layup of his own on the Buffs first offensive trip down the floor. The Grizzlies would lead for the final time of the game at 4-2 before Gach Gach connected on a three to give the Buffs a lead they would not relinquish. Joel Murray would score the next five points for WT as they headed to the under 16 minute media timeout leading 10-8.
WT would find their stroke from three after the timeout with Grant and Jordan Collins both connecting from deep before Grant scored three points the old-fashioned way to make it 19-13. The Buffs led by no more than six points over the next six minutes until Sterling White came off the bench on fire. The sophomore made his first three of the game at 7:08 followed by another three-pointer on the following possession to make it 37-30 in favor of the Buffs.
ASU went on a 11-4 run over the next five minutes to tie the game at 41-all before WT finished the half on a 17-4 run which included five three-pointers. Grant connected on the first on an assist from James Pennington followed by another one by Collins before White made his presence known with his third three-pointer of the half. Grant would make two more before Brandon Hall hit a jumper in the final seconds to give WT a 58-45 lead after 20 minutes of play.
The Buffs went 22-of-38 (57.9%) from the floor in the first half along with 11-of-20 (55.0%) from beyond the arc and 3-of-7 (42.9%) from the charity stripe as they lead for 18:16 minutes in the first half.
Much like the first half, ASU had no answer for the Buffs as they scored the first four points of the second half on a layup from Quaid followed by a pair of free throws from Grant to stretch the lead to 62-45. ASU would get on the board with an old-fashioned three-point play followed by another layup from Murray as he grabbed a rebound and took it coast-to-coast for two points. Quaid would turn an offensive rebound into points following a steal by Hall to make it 66-48 with 17:36 left in the contest.
Following another ASU three-point play, Grant would connect from downtown to restore the 18-point deficit at 69-51.The Grizzlies cut the lead down to 15 at 13:47 but that would be the closest they would get as WT went on a 7-0 run to make it 79-57. Derrick Geddis' dunk on an assist from Drew Evans was the first basket of the run followed by a fast break layup from the junior from Chicago, Ill. before Grant connected on another three-pointer.
Another 8-2 run fueled by five points from Quaid and a three from Gach made it 87-63 with under 10 minutes remaining in the game. The Buffs offense continued to find no resistance as they scored at well reaching the 100-point plateau on a three from Evans with a little more than five minutes remaining. The lead would reach as high as 32 points on a dunk from Geddis at 4:26.Marshall Johnson scored his first collegiate points on a layup in the final minute of the game as the Buffs defeated Adams State for the fourth straight time.
WT finished the game 44-of-81 (54.3%) from the floor and 15-of-36 (41.7%) from three and 9-of-18 (50.0%) from the free throw line. They outrebounded ASU 29-25 with 19 of those rebounds coming on the offensive glass to go along with 21 assists, six blocks and three blocks. Quaid and Grant became the first Buffs to score more than 20 points this season with 23 each. Quaid finished with nine rebounds to finish a rebound shy of a double-double while Grant was 6-of-10 from beyond the arc. Murray and Evans also reached double figures with 11 and 10 points respectively.
The Buffs will host Lubbock Christian on Thursday, Nov. 15, for their home opener at the First United Bank Center. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.
