CANYON, Texas – Brandon Hall filled the stat sheet in #16 West Texas A&M's 87-66 victory over #20 Texas A&M-Commerce on Thursday night in front of 1,567 fans at the First United Bank Center. The senior guard scored a career-high 24 points with nine rebounds, five steals and four assists as the Buffs won their third straight game in the series against the Lions.
THE BASICS
The Matchup: #16 West Texas A&M 87, #20 Texas A&M-Commerce 66
Records: #16 West Texas A&M (17-3, 6-1 LSC), #20 Texas A&M-Commerce (13-3, 5-1 LSC)
Venue: First United Bank Center
Location: Canyon, Texas
A slow start put the Buffs in an 16-8 hole with a little more than 12 minutes remaining before Jordan Collins came off the bench to spark the offense. The junior made a timely three at 11:38 that led to another three from Brandon Hall two minutes later to cut the deficit to 18-17. The defense came up big for the reminder of the half as they kept the deficit manageable before Collins hit another three to give WT their first lead of the game, 25-23, at 4:16. They went into halftime leading 34-32 after outscoring the Lions 6-3 over the final two minutes of the first half.
With the game tied at 40-all at 17:05 in the second half, WT responded with a 9-0 run over the next two minutes to take a 49-40 lead into the under 16-minute timeout. Qua Grant was the force behind the run as the scored five of his 14 points during the two-minute run. After allowing the Lions to fight back and take a 57-56 lead with 10 minutes remaining in the contest, WT held the visitors without a basket for more than seven minutes to take control of the game.
Ryan Quaid made his only three-pointer of the game at 9:11 to give the Buffs a lead they would not relinquish. Hall would use his speed to punish the Lions scoring four straight points before feeding James Pennington for a tough layup in the lane. They continued to pour it on with a monstrous dunk by Quaid bringing the Buff Faithful to their feet. He would get another dunk in the dying minutes of the game following a nifty drive to the basket from Joel Murray.
WT shot 32-of-63 (50.8%) from the floor, 9-of-29 (31.0%) from three-point range and 14-of-16 (87.5%) from the free throw line with 33 rebounds, 13 assists, eight steals and four blocks. Hall reached the 20-point plateau for the second time in his career with a career-high going 10-of-16 from the floor. He also had a career-high nine rebounds and five steals to go along with four assists. Murray added 19 points, 12 of those coming in the second half, with seven rebounds and four assists. Ryan Quaid added 14 points, one short of his season average, with seven rebounds while Grant chipped in 14 points in 29 minutes of action.
UP NEXT
West Texas A&M will host Tarleton on Saturday, Jan. 19, at 4 p.m. at the First United Bank Center. The Texans fell 70-68 to Eastern New Mexico on Thursday night to drop to 13-4 overall and 3-3 in LSC play.
