FRISCO, Texas – The No. 22-ranked West Texas A&M men's basketball team used a strong second half to defeat the Chaparrals of Lubbock Christian 76-70 on Saturday night. The win pushed the Buffs to the Lone Star Conference Championship game where WT will look to claim its sixth-consecutive tournament title.
The Leaders
Damion Thornton led WT in scoring with 26 points to go along with seven rebounds and a steal. Two other Buffs reached double digits as
Julius Brown scored 17 and
Zach Toussaint scored 13.
Addison Wallace pulled in a game-high 10 rebounds while scoring six points.
How It Happened
Meeting for the third time in a week, the Buffs and Chaps started evenly matched with neither team gaining a definitive edge. LCU gained a 12-8 lead with 12:34 left in the first half as the four-point advantage was the largest by either team in the opening minutes. WT closed the gap quickly before the Chaps stretched their lead again. With 1:46 left in the opening period, Brown sank a free throw to give the Buffs their biggest lead of the night at 33-28. The lead couldn't hold up into halftime as LCU closed the half on a 6-0 run and gained a one-point lead at the midway point.
In the second half, Thornton started to put WT on his back. With 17:46 remaining, Thornton sparked an 8-0 run by himself to give the Buffs the lead again. The lead held up until another LCU scoring streak placed the Chaps in the driver's seat at the under-12-minute media timeout. The Chaps extended their lead to a game-high six points with just under 10 minutes to play, but the Buffs weren't done fighting. With 6:09 left in the game, Toussaint nailed a three to give WT an advantage it wouldn't relinquish. In the closing minutes, LCU brought the game within two, but the Buffs hit the biggest shots of the night to answer. With three seconds to go, Toussaint buried a pair of free throws and sent WT to the title game.
Inside the Box Score
- WT leads the all-time series 23-8, 2-1 on a neutral floor.
- Head coach Tom Brown moves to 10-7 against the Chaps.
- WT shot 40.6% (26-of-64) from the field, 42.9% (12-of-28) from deep, 80.0% (12-of-15) from the charity stripe with 34 rebounds, 12 assists, six steals, one block, and five turnovers.
- LCU shot 49.0% (25-of-51) from the floor, 28.6% (4-of-14) from 3-point range, 88.9% (16-of-18) at the free throw line with 33 rebounds, five assists, one steal, two blocks, and 10 turnovers.
- Julius Brown recorded his 1,000th point in Maroon & White and moved into 24th on the WT all-time scoring list with 1,003 points.
Up Next
WT faces the winner of the Texas A&M-Kingsville and Angelo State semifinal for the conference crown at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday.
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