STEPHENVILLE, Texas – Ryan Quaid became the program's second all-time leading scorer in the second half of No. 4 West Texas A&M's 81-65 victory over Tarleton on Thursday night at Wisdom Gym in Stephenville, Texas. Quaid's game-high 23 points led the Buffs to their second consecutive road win over the Texans since 1999-2001 as their win streak reached 11 games.
THE BASICS
The Matchup:#4 West Texas A&M 81, Tarleton 65
Records:#4 West Texas A&M (26-3, 15-1 LSC), Tarleton (18-8, 8-7 LSC)
Venue:Wisdom Gym
Location:Stephenville, Texas
Quaid scored the first seven points of the game for the Buffs before Gach Gach connected on his only three of the contest at 16:49 to make it 10-4 in favor of the visitors. WT continued to lead as the freshman backcourt of Joel Murray and Qua Grant combined to score the next 11 points for WT to stretch the lead to double digits, 21-10, just before the under 12-minute media timeout.
The Texans would close the gap to seven points, 30-23, at 5:33 before WT responded with a 7-0 run over the next two minutes capped off with a three-pointer from Jordan Collins. Following a layup from TSU's Jessie Hill to make it 40-28, Quaid sparked another 7-0 run for the Buffs where Murray connected on his third and final three-pointer of the first half as WT lead 49-34 at intermission.
Quaid opened the second half much like the first with a three-pointer before the Texans responded with a 12-2 run over the next three minutes to cut the lead to eight, 54-46. Following Grant's fifth steal of the game, Eric Mosley hit a three from the left corner to spark a 12-0 run. Murray picked up another steal on the next possession for an easy layup proceeded by back-to-back threes from Collins.
With 11 minutes remaining in regulation, Quaid scored five straight points on a monstrous dunk and three-pointer to push the lead to a game-high 23, 71-48, while moving into second on the all-time scoring list passing Martin Lattibeaudiere with 1,567 career points.
TSU wouldn't go down without a fight as they scored nine straight points to cut the lead to 14 points before Collins connected on his fourth three-pointer of the game to make it 77-60 with 4:29 remaining, The Buffs would scoreless for the next three and half minutes before Quaid made a pair of layups in the final minute as they swept the season series over the Texans for the first time since 2007.
WT finished the game 30-of-57 (53.6%) from the floor, 14-of-30 (46.7%) from three-point range and 7-of-9 (77.8%) from the free throw line to go along with 24 rebounds, 15 assists, 15 steals and three blocks. Quaid's 23-point performance marked the ninth time this season and 16thtime in his career he scored 20 or more points in a game as he went 9-of-16 from the floor and 3-of-6 from beyond the arc. Murray scored 14 of his 16 points in the first half while tying a career-high with five steals. Grant was equally impressive on the defensive end with seven steals and six rebounds to go with his 15 points. Collins came off the bench to score 12 points reaching double figures for the seventh time this season.
UP NEXT
West Texas A&M finishes the road portion of their schedule at Texas A&M-Commerce on Saturday. Feb. 23, in Commerce, Texas. Tipoff is scheduled for 4 p.m.
