ORANGE, Calif. – Qua Grant scored a team-high 17 points in his second career game to help #4 West Texas A&M overcome a seven-point halftime deficit to defeat Lindenwood 65-62 on Saturday morning at the D2CCA TipOff Classic in Orange, Calif. The freshman guard was one of four Buffs in double-figures as the Buffs improved to 2-0 on the season.

THE BASICS
The Matchup: West Texas A&M 65, Lindenwood 62
Records: West Texas A&M (2-0), Lindenwood (1-1)
Venue: Santiago Canyon College
Location: Orange, Calif.

Two missed shots and a turnover put the Buffs in a 6-0 hole before Ryan Quaid made a pair of free throws to get WT on the board. Another turnover led to more points for Lindenwood before Grant made his first basket of the game to cut the deficit to 9-5 with 17:37 remaining in the first half.  Grant would go on to score four straight points to keep the Buffs within 10 points heading into the under 12-minute media timeout.

The Buffs offense started to find room at the rim following the timeout as Hall and Grant both had layups to pull WT within five, 18-13, with 10:37 on the clock. Lindenwood would score 10 straight points over the next four minutes before Murray ended the run with a layup. The freshman from Rowlett, Texas would combine with Jordan Collins to score eight straight points to cut the deficit to five, 28-23, with under five minutes left before halftime. After a pair of jumpers from the Lions, Collins scored five straight, including a three, to make it 32-28 heading into the final two minutes. LU's Chris King would hit a three followed by a jumper by Chandler Diekvoss before Hall hit jumper in the final 10 second to make a 37-30 game in favor of Lindenwood after 20 minutes of action.

Both teams missed shots to open the second half before LU"s Drew Moore connected on a three to make it a nine-point game. Grant would respond on the next possession with a long ball of his own followed by a jumper by Gach to cut the lead to four, 39-35. Lindenwood would go on a 10-5 run over the next six minutes to make it a 10-point deficit.

Following a media timeout, WT would score 16 straight to take their first lead of the game with less than eight minutes remaining the contest. Murray got the run started with a layup followed by another layup by Grant after he got the offensive rebound on Collins' missed three. Gach would connect on a three on the next possession before Quaid made his only three of the game to tie the game at 50-all with nine minutes remaining. Grant and Collins would go a combined 3-of-4 from the charity stripe to extend the lead to three followed by another three-pointer from Grant.

Lindenwood would respond with a 5-0 run to cut the lead to one, 56-55, before Gach connected on his second three of the game to push the lead back to four. Murray would score for straight points including two from the free throw line before the Lions countered with a 7-0 run to make a one score game, 63-62, with less than 30 seconds remaining. Gach made both his free throws with 17 seconds remaining to make it 65-62 but Lindenwood two last second three-pointers were no good as WT improved to 5-0 all-time at the D2CCA TipOff Classic.

The Buffs finished the game going 22-of-56 (39.3%) from the floor including 7-of-27 (25.9%) from three and 14-of-16 (87.5%) from the free throw line. Grant finished in double figures in just his second game in a WT uniform after shooting 7-of-12 from the field and 2-of-4 from beyond the arc. He also pulled down a team-high eight rebounds, five of those coming on the offensive end. Joel Murray had 12 points and four rebounds with Collins (11 pts.) and 10 Gach both reaching double figures.

WT will play its final game at the D2CCA TipOff Classic tomorrow against Concordia (Calif.) at 1:15 p.m. A full recap can be found at GoBuffsGo.com after the game.