CANYON, Texas – Ryan Quaid scored 16 of his 21 points in the second half as #4 West Texas A&M opened their 2018-19 home schedule with a 82-70 win over Lubbock Christian in front of 1,305 fans at the First United Bank Center on Thursday night.
THE BASICS
The Matchup: #4 West Texas A&M 82, Lubbock Christian 70
Records: #4 West Texas A&M (5-1), Lubbock Christian (2-1)
Venue: First United Bank Center
Location: Canyon, Texas
The Buffs came out with all the momentum going on a 14-2 before the under 16-minute timeout. Qua Grant scored the first points on the game on a layup followed by a three from Quaid on the following possession. LCU would get on the board on a Ja'Qualyn Gilbreath shot in the paint that was followed by nine straight points from WT. Quaid would hit another jumper followed by a layup from Gach Gach a minute later. The senior from Austin, Minn. would hit his first three of the game to make it a 10-point game followed by a Grant layup forcing a LCU timeout.
The Chaps ended the run with a basket from Brennan Fowler before Murray restored the 12-point lead with a jumper. Drew Evans would connect on his first three of the game with 12:46 left in the first half to make it 19-6. The teams traded baskets as the lead hovered around 14-16 points before LCU cut it to single digits on an Isaac Asrat layup with 4:04 remaining. The Chaps would continue to force WT into tough shots as the lead was down five, 33-28, at 2:29 before Murray scored four of the Buffs final seven points to give the home team a 40-31.
Quaid would get the Buffs first basket of the second half with another three from the top of the arc. It was a nine-point advantage when Murray took it coast-to-coast for a layup before Quaid hit a jumper to make it 47-35. The lead would go up to 17 just under 17 minutes remaining when Murray connected from deep followed by another fast break layup from Quaid. LCU would stop the run with a three from Silas Crisler but WT would respond with a pair of threes of their own.
Quaid continued to dominate as she scored five straight points to make it 63-46 heading into the under 12-minute media timeout. After trading baskets, WT would stretch the lead to 20 points, 70-50, with three-pointers from Quaid and Murray. Brandon Hall's dunk with 7:40 remaining following consecutive blocks from Gach electrified the crowd making it 74-52. LCU would try and chip away at the lead with a 11-3 run but it wasn't enough as the Buffs went 5-of-6 from the charity stripe to seal the win and defeat LCU in their second consecutive meeting for the first time since 2005-06.
WT finished the game 25-of-56 (48.2%) and 12-of-31 (38.7%) and 16-of-27 (59.3%) from the charity stripe with 27 rebounds, 16 assists, 11 steals and four blocks. Quaid reached the 20-point plateau for the second consecutive game with 21 points going 8-of-13 from the floor and a season-best 4-of-8 from three-point range while pulling down six rebounds. Murray had a career-high 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting with four assists and two rebounds. Grant and Gach were also in double figures with 13 and 11 respectively.
The Buffs will host the University of Science & Arts (Okla.) on Saturday, Nov. 17, on Poster Night. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. with the second annual alumni game to follow. Every fan will receive a team poster with players available for autographs after the game.
