FRISCO, Texas – No. 3 West Texas A&M advanced to Sunday's Lone Star Conference Championship with a hard-fought 87-77 victory over Angelo State on Saturday afternoon at the Comerica Center in Frisco. Joel Murray and Qua Grant combined for 51 points as the Buffs pushed their win streak to 22 games and advanced to their third straight LSC Championship game.

WT saw themselves down five points in the opening five minutes of the game, 18-13, as both teams shot over 70 percent from the floor. Following the opening media timeout, the Buffs went on a 12-0 run over the next five minutes to take a 25-18 lead. Eric Mosley got the run started with a layup on an offensive rebound followed by a fastbreak layup from Grant. JT Warren would connect on a 3-ponter from the left side before Grant connected from downtown following another offensive rebound.

Kavon Booker gave the Buffs valuable minutes in the first half with a tip-in at 7:07 to make it 28-24 in favor of the Buffs. Grant scored eight of his 18 first half points over the next three minutes to help push the lead to 10, 41-31, at 4:04. The Rams would score the final four points of the first half as WT lead 46-41 at halftime. 

The lead would reach a game-high 11 points in the opening two minutes of the second half, 52-41, on a 3-ponter from Jon'il Fugett. WT would only score two baskets over the next three minutes as ASU cut the led to two, 56-54, before Grant hit a pair of free throws followed by a 3-pointer from the logo from Zach Toussaint. 

Hayden Blankley made a crucial corner 3-pointer for the Buffs at 8:48 to make it a six-point game, 68-62. ASU's Camron Reedus connected on one of his seven 3-pointers at 7:14 to make it 72-69 before Grant scored four straight points for the Buffs to make it a three-possession game. 

It was a two-point game, 79-77, with under three minutes remaining in the contest before the Buffs finished the game on a 8-0 run. Murray drove the lane before finding a wide open Geddis under the basket to start the run followed by a contest layup from Grant. WT would go 4-of-4 from the charity stripe in the final minute to seal their 10^th straight win over the Rams. 

Grant tied a career-high with 32 points after going 12-of-22 from the floor, 4-of-7 from 3-point range and 4-of-5 from the free throw line. Murray added 19 points, eight rebounds and three assists with Fugett reaching double figures for the 17^th time this season with 12. 

The Buffs will face the winner of St. Edward's and Texas A&M-Kingsville in the Championship Game on Sunday, March 8. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.