CANYON, Texas – West Texas A&M remains undefeated at the D2CCA Tipoff Classic after the No. 3 Buffs defeated Minnesota State-Moorhead, 87-65, on Saturday night to open the 2021-22 campaign 2-0.
Two Buffs saw 20-plus scoring with
Julius Brown leading with a team-high 21 followed by
Zach Toussaint with 20 including four three-pointers.
Addison Wallace and
Larry Wise also reached double-figures scoring with 11 points each while Wallace dished out four assists. Freshman
Jesse Iweze brought down a game-high nine rebounds with seven on defense alongside three steals.
The Dragons took the lead with a shot from beyond the arc by Siman Sem but was short lived as Toussaint collected six consecutive points to ignite the Buffs 26-6 run.
Addison Wallace connected with his first three of the season before finishing the run with a layup.
Wallace found
Jesse Iweze under the basket for the freshman to link with his first collegiate dunk to make it a 20-point game, 34-14. Another successful run led by Brown, who linked with four jumpers, would put the Buffs ahead by 30 at halftime.
In the second half, Back-to-back technical fouls were credited to MSUM to bring Toussaint to the free throw line. The Johnsburg, Ill. product sank three to push the lead to a game-high 35, 58-23. Brown would put up his final points of the contest with his third three at 2:39.
WT finished the night shooting 50.8 percent from the field (32-for-76) and 42.1 percent (8-for-19) from beyond the arc while shooting 15-18 (83.3%) at the free throw line with 40 rebounds with nine coming on offense.
MSUM was led offensively by Jacob Beeninga with 20 points while Gavin Baumgartner brought down a team-high seven rebounds. The Dragons shot 21-for-63 (33.3%) from the field and 32.1 percent (9-for-28) from the deep including 87.5 percent from the free throw line.
The Buffs will return to the First United Bank Center for the tournament finale with a matchup against Elite Eight finalist Daemen. The Wildcats are 1-1 in the preseason tournament after defeating MSU-Moorhead, 67-63, before falling to No. 4 Colorado Mesa, 76-65. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. following the Lady Buffs game against Southwestern Oklahoma State.
