CANYON, Texas – #8 West Texas A&M ended the first half on a 29-8 run en route to defeating Colorado State-Pueblo 105-71 on Friday afternoon on the first day of the Pak-A-Sak Thanksgiving Classic at the First United Bank Center. Gach Gach scored a team-high 16 points while the team shot a season-high 58.0% from the field as the Buffs extended their home win streak to 12 games.
THE BASICS
The Matchup: #8 West Texas A&M 105, Colorado State-Pueblo 71
Records: #8 West Texas A&M (7-1), Colorado State-Pueblo (2-3)
Venue: First United Bank Center
Location: Canyon, Texas
CSUP's Jason Anderson scored on the possession of the game with a jumper from the left block, after back-to-back turnovers from both teams WT got on the board with Qau Grant scoring an easy layup after getting in front of Jason Phillips' pass. Another ThunderWolves turnover would result in more points with Brandon Hall making his layup before converting on the free throw. Anderson would tie the game at 5-all with the first three of the ball game at 17:23 before retaking the lead on Corey Seng's jumper.
Gach Gach answered on the next possession with a three of his own would put the home team back in the lead until Donovan Oldahom hit his first basket of the game to give CSUP a 9-8 lead at 13:46. The Buffs had an answer on the following possession with Jordan Collins connecting from three followed by another fast break from Hall. The Thunderwolves would make a one-point game with a three of their own. WT would score the next six points to make it 19-12 thanks to threes from Drew Evans and Gach.
The Thundewolves would respond with seven straight points to tie the game at 19-19 with nine minutes remaining forcing a WT timeout. Whatever head coach Tom Brown said in the huddle worked as the Buffs would score eight of the next 10 points to take a 27-21 lead. Ryan Quaid made his first shot of the game with a jumper on the left wing followed by a nice post move from Gach. Murray got his own rebound before getting the put back to go to make it a six-point game with under six minutes remaining in the first half.
WT continue to shoot lights out from the field as Murray beat the defensive down the field for an easy layup before Collins hit another pull up three from the WT logo. Derrick Geddis picked up his first block of the night, which resulted in a layup from Gant followed by a three from Eric Mosley. The teams would trade baskets with under two minutes remaining before WT ended the half scoring seven of the final nine points to head into halftime up 48-27.
Quaid got things started in the second half with a nice post move finished with a hook shot around the rim with Gach hitting his fourth and final three of the evening on the next trip down the floor. Following a CSUP layup, Murray picked up a layup of his own as he took the inbound pass coast-to-coast for the second time of the game. The Roweltt, Texas native would do the same thing a minute later to make it 57-29 in favor of WT.
Geddis started to make his mark on the game at 16:24 with a layup followed by a monstrous drive and dunk a minute later right in the face of a CSUP defender. Collins continued the hot shooting with a three from the right corner with Evans hitting a three of his own at 14:00 remaining in the game. Following a CSUP missed shot, Geddis would connect on his first career three-point to stretch the lead to 39 points, 72-33.
CSUP would cut into the lead with a 9-2 run but WT quickly responded with six straight points of their own including a two-handed dunk from James Pennington. Geddis' second electrifying dunk of the night made it 82-48 with 8:02 followed by a three from Sterling White from the right corner. The sophomore from Happy, Texas would make both of his free throws with Geddis dunking for the third time of the game, this time on a put back off a Evans' miss. Mosley and White would both connect from beyond the arc with under four minutes remaining in the game. Evans would score the Buffs final basket of the game with less than a minute remaining with a step back jumper.
WT finished the game a season best 40-of-69 (58.0%) from the field, 17-of-34 (50.0%) from beyond the arc and 8-of-12 (66.7%) from the free throw line to go a long with 26 rebounds, 20 assists, seven steals and five blocks. Gach led the Buffs in scoring for the second consecutive game for the first time in his career with 16 points going 4-of-8 from three-point range. Geddis had a career-high 15 points to go along with five rebounds and two assists while Murray and Evans had 12 and 11 respectively.
UP NEXT
The Buffs finish the Pak-A-Sak Thanksgiving Classic hosting Central Oklahoma tomorrow at 5 p.m. The Bronchos lead Lubbock Christian 35-22 in the fourth and final game of the first day of action at the Pak-A-Sak Thanksgiving Classic.
