CANYON, Texas – West Texas A&M finished the annual Pak-A-Sak Thanksgiving Classic undefeated after the No. 6 Buffs defeated Southwestern Oklahoma State, 79-56, on Saturday night.  WT moves to 8-1 on the season while SWOSU drops to 1-3 with WT leading the series 34-15. 
 
WT led off scoring with three consecutive 3-pointers from Julius Brown and Zach Toussaint to take a 9-5 lead in the opening three minutes before the Buffs ran away with a 12-2 run.  Freshman Austin Shelley hit back-to-back threes to push the lead out to 14 until Ben Smith ended the run with a layup make it 21-10 at the 10:29 mark. 
 
The Bulldogs and Buffs continued to exchange scores until WT broke away with another successful run to push their lead out to 24, 37-13, with 4:46 on the clock.  With less than five seconds left in the first half, Zach Toussaint knocked down both shots at the free throw line but the Bulldogs added two to the board with a floater by Kamden Gipson to cut the Buffs lead back to 20.
 
SWOSU attempted to chip away at the Buffs lead as Tanner Meraz posted a shot from the deep for the Bulldogs to open the second half.  Toussaint and Brown each came up big for the Buffs midway through with a pair of shots from beyond the arc to make it 67-46.  Shelley registered the final shot of the night as the Melbourne, Australia native connected with his ninth 3-pointer of the season.  
 
Two Buffs reached double figures led by Zach Toussaint with a game-high 23.  The Johnsburg, Ill product went 5-for-8 from the field connecting on five shots from the deep while shooting 8-for-8 at the charity stripe.  Julius Brown also reached double-digit scoring with 16 points to go along with two assists, two steals and a rebound.  Hayden Blankley and Jesse Iweze each brought down six rebounds for WT. 
 
WT will hit the road to take on Eastern New Mexico (3-3, 0-0 LSC) on Thursday, Dec. 2 for a nonconference matchup at the Greyhound Arena.  The Buffs and Greyhounds will meet for the first time on the court on since Jan. 4, 2020 with WT leading the all-time series 77-19 including 31-11 in Portales.  Tipoff is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. CT.