SHAWNEE, OKLAHOMA – West Texas A&M Men's Basketball (5-1, 0-0 LSC) suffered their first loss of the season as they fell 83-82 to No. 12 Oklahoma Baptist Saturday evening. WT led by as many as 23 in the game with a buzzer beating three sealing their fate.
Both teams opened the game with two triples as the game held an early 8-8 tie four minutes in.
KJ Thomas splashed both of those threes for the Buffaloes. WT would start to take control with a 7-0 run that saw
Ryder Cheesman finish inside twice to pair with
Ben Walton knocking in a three. The Bison momentarily halted the run with a layup, but the Buffaloes continued to stampede as they ripped off a 19-0 run to lead by 23 points at 39-16. In the run that lasted six minutes,
Joel Robinson scored nine points while the defense swarmed and forced the Bison into tough shots. The 12th ranked Bison did find momentum to end the half with a 16-5 run, but WT still held a 44-32 lead going into halftime after shooting 51.5% from the field with six threes in the first half.
Moving into the second half, WT held firm on their lead over the first stretch of minutes. OBU continued to chip away as an 11-0 run cut the lead down to a single possession at three points with West Texas A&M now leading 60-57. The Buffs would respond with an and-one layup by Cheesman and sprung their lead back up to double figures with a 12-4 run with 7:02 left in the game. WT kept the lead at 12 as free throws by
Logan Gibson set the score at 82-70 with 3:28 remaining. The Bison continued to stick around and made another push as a 10-0 run got the lead down to two with 13 seconds remaining after they finished a layup. OBU would foul and the Buffs would miss the front end of a one-and-one but came up with the offensive rebound as the Bison again fouled. With eight seconds remaining, WT again missed a one-and-one free throw as Oklahoma Baptist grabbed the rebound and made a buzzer beating three for the 83-82 win.
Top Buffs
- Ryder Cheesman recorded a double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds to go with four assists. Cheesman shot 10/15 from the field as both his points and rebounds were career-highs.
- Joel Robinson also had a career-high with 25 points on an efficient 8/13 shooting. He also totaled five rebounds, three threes, two assists, and a block.
- Logan Gibson tallied 11 points and six rebounds. Gibson made all five of his free throws as he scored 11+ for the fourth time this season.
Buffalo Bits
- West Texas A&M is now 8-2 all-time against Oklahoma Baptist.
- WT led the game in field goal percentage (50-49.3), assists (15-10), points off turnovers (12-11), and fast break points (9-7).
- Ben Walton knocked in two threes for six points to go with two rebounds. This was Walton's third multi-three game this season.
- KJ Thomas tallied 10 points, three rebounds, four assists, and a steal. Thomas shot 2/4 from three and dished out a season-high of four assists.
- Jailyn Sledge notched four points, three rebounds, and a steal.
- James Parlow Jr. registered four rebounds, two assists, and two steals.
Up Next
West Texas A&M return home on Thursday, November 19 as they host Southwest at 6:00 p.m.
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