CANYON, Texas – No. 7 West Texas A&M started a new home win streak on Saturday afternoon at the First United Bank Center with a 88-77 victory over UT Permian Basin. The Buffs improved to 5-1 on the season and 3-1 in Lone Star Conference play.
Murray moved up to eighth on the all-time scoring list passing Maurice "Mo" Cheeks and Tez Dumars with a team-high 24 points while dishing out six assists. Qua Grant recorded his third double-double of the season with 16 points and 13 rebounds with Zach Toussaint contributing 17 points off the bench. Jon'il Fugett also reached double figures with 10.
After trailing by as many seven points in the opening four minutes of the first half, WT found their footing to tie the game at 21-all at 10:34 on a Toussaint 3-pointer. The sophomore would connect on another deep ball on the Buffs' next possession to give them their first lead of the game.
The teams continued to trade the lead over the next five minutes before the Buffs went on a 7-0 run to push their lead to make it an eight-point lead for the home team. The first five points of the run came from the charity stripe before Grant hit a jumper in the paint following a steal.
WT would see their lead dwindle to five points, 41-36, on an Adam Rivera 3-pointer before outscoring the Falcons 7-0 over the final three minutes of the first half to make it 48-36 at intermission.
J. Fugett opened the second half with one of his two 3-pointers to push the lead to 14 points, 53-39. Toussaint continued to provide bench scoring for the Buffs later in the half with another 3-pointer followed by a floater in the lane to keep the Buffs up double digits, 62-52, and give him a new career-high.
Their lead would be as low as five, 70-65, with under seven minutes remaining in regulation before the Buffs went on another 7-0 run. J. Fugett made a 3-pointer on an assist from Grant followed by an offensive put back from Ugo Obineke. Murray finished the run with a layup to make it 77-65 after Fugett had ripped the ball away from Brandon Burrell.
Murray would pass Cheeks on the scoring list with a pair of free throws at 5:49 with his jumper two minutes later moving him past Dumars for eighth on the all-time scoring list.
The Buffs continue their home stand with a pair of games against Texas A&M-Kingsville on Jan. 22 and 23.
