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Jan. 24, 2009

Box Score

Stephenville, Texas – West Texas A&M proved that limiting turnovers and hitting shots down the stretch are keys to earning victories on the road, as they defeated Tarleton State, 69-59, Saturday night at TSU’s Wisdom Gym.

The win lifts WTAMU to 13-5 overall, 3-0 in LSC South play, while Tarleton State falls to 13-6, 1-3 LSC South. The victory also keeps the Buffs alone atop the LSC South Division.

The Buffaloes led throughout the majority of the first half. Tarleton State opened the game on a short jumper by Cortney Hill.

The Buffs answered on a three-pointer by Justin Johnson, taking a 3-2 lead. From that point, WT led until the 5:31 mark when Tarleton edged ahead, 24-23. But from that point, the Buffs responded, opening a seven point advantage, 31-24, with 2:21 remaining in the half, eventually taking a 36-30 lead into the halftime locker room. Kyle Shields scored 11 of his 15 total points in the first half, hitting 5-of-7 shots from the floor in the initial stanza.

A three-pointer by the Texans’ Cloudy Martin tied the score, 38-38, at 16:34 of the second half. Bijan Dotson was fouled as he made a lay up off a Shields feed. Dotson converted the free throw for the three point play to put WT up, 41-38 at the 14:49 mark of the second half. TSU’s Jeremiah Wilson cut the gap to 41-40 on a jumper, before WT forward Niko Stylianou canned a three to lift the Buff margin to 44-40 with 13:59 remaining.

WT maintained the lead into the game’s final minutes. A Nick Burns’ three-pointer with 3:42 remaining gave the Buffs their largest least of the night at 58-49. Following a pair of TSU free throws, guard Demetrice Fuller hit a pair of free throws at the 2:59 mark to keep the Buff lead at nine points, 60-51. With 2:37 remaining, Nick Burns hit both ends of a one-and-one opportunity to lift the Buff lead to 62-51.

“We have always thought that Nick could be a big-game player,” said WT head coach Rick Cooper. “Tonight he showed that he’s capable of filling that role.”

Tarleton’s Hill hit a trey to narrow the margin to 62-54. Burns then hit another three-pointer to give the Buffs a 65-54 lead, then Shields fed post Fabrice Tafo for a lay up to give WT a 67-54 advantage. Cortney Martin responded with a bucket to pull TSU to within 67-56 and Hill hit a trey to close the gap to 67-59.

But, Burns hit two free throws with 15 seconds remaining to seal the 69-59 win.

Burns led the Buffs with 18 points, while Shields added 15 points and six assists and Tafo was a perfect five-of-five from the floor to finish with 12 points. Shields and Tafo each grabbed a team-leading six rebounds while, as a team, WT committed just nine turnovers. As a team, the Buffs hit 47 percent from the field.

Tarleton was paced by Hill’s 18 points, while Eric Williams added 11 points and Jeremiah Wilson totaled 10 points. Wale Ogunoye led all rebounders, with nine, while Williams and Wilson had seven apiece. Tarleton was held to 37 percent from the floor and just 32.3 percent in the second half as the Buff defense helped secure the win.

“I thought we shot free throws very well in the second half,” said Coach Cooper. “Kyle (Shields) is a great floor leader and he did an excellent job of running the team tonight. He had an extraordinary game tonight.

“Tarleton State is an outstanding rebounding team, but we played with a lot of confidence tonight. Credit is due to Fabrice (Tafo). He played very well against taller competition tonight. Demetrice (Fuller) also played very well, defensively, for us.”

The Buffs return home this week, hosting Angelo State, Wednesday, Jan. 28. Tip-off at the First United Bank Center is set for 8 p.m. CST.