SILVER CITY, N.M. –Gach Gach registered his third double-double of the season as #13 West Texas A&M defeated Western New Mexico 72-55 on Saturday afternoon at Drag's Court in Silver City, N.M. for the fifth-straight victory. The senior guard from Austin, Minn. was one of four Buffs in double figures as the Buffs improved to 15-2 overall and 4-0 in Lone Star Conference play.
THE BASICS
The Matchup: #13 West Texas A&M 72, Western New Mexico 55
Records: #13 West Texas A&M (15-2, 4-0 LSC), Western New Mexico (3-7, 0-3 LSC)
Venue: Drag's Court
Location: Silver City, New Mexico
West Texas A&M shot the ball well to open the game making three of their first four attempts but still saw themselves trailing 21-19 with 8:01 left in the first half. That all changed with a 14-0 run by the Buffs with Qua Grant getting things started with a three-pointer followed by another three from Gach Gach on the following possession. Drew Evans would come off the bench to score seven of the final 11 points for the Buffs as they lead 36-28 at halftime.
The Buffs would see their lead shrink to four within the first two minutes of the second half but Brandon Hall responded by scoring six of the next seven points for WT to push the lead back to nine, 43-34, at 16:37. WT's offense continued to find open shots with Gach and Joel Murray each scoring four points over the next two minutes to push it to 51-36.
They lead by 15, 64-49, with a little more than eight minutes remaining in the contest when WT went on their final run of the contest to push the lead to a game-high 21. Evans connected on a jumper to put him in double figures for the fourth time this season. Brandon Hall would then would proceed to score the final four points of the run on a layup a few possessions later after a pair of offensive rebounds followed by a pair of free throws from the senior.
In their fifth consecutive win over WNMU, WT shot 22-of-56 (39.3%) from the floor, 6-of-23 (26.1%) from three-point range and 22-of-27 (81.5%) from the free throw line with 38 rebounds, eight assists, five steals and five blocks. Gach bounced from his 8-point performance on Thursday by scoring a team-high 18 points shooting 6-of-11 with 10 rebounds for his fifth career double-double. Murray added 17 points and three assists while Hall reached double figures for the fifth straight game with 14 points going 6-of-8 from the charity stripe. Evans had an impressive performance off the bench as the junior tied a season-high with 11 points to go along with six rebounds, three assists and three blocks.
UP NEXT
West Texas A&M continue their four game road trip on Thursday, Jan. 10, against Texas A&M-Kingsville at 7:30 p.m.. The Javelinas fell 75-65 to Angelo State on Saturday afternoon to drop to 4-7 (0-3 LSC) on the season.
