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Feb. 11, 2009

Box Score

WICHITA FALLS, Texas – West Texas A&M fell to Midwestern State, 85-75, Wednesday night at D.L. Ligon Coliseum. The teams entered the contest deadlocked in a four-way battle for first place in the Lone Star Conference South Division.

The loss drops WTAMU to 15-8 overall, 5-3 in LSC South play, while Midwestern State improves 17-6, 6-2 in the LSC South. WT also falls to fourth place with the defeat, while MSU remains tied for first.

A very physical first-half of play saw the Mustangs hold a 40-30 halftime lead.

The Buffs opened the second half of play by scoring the first eight of the first 10 points of the half, a free throw by Nick Burns, and seven points by Demetrice Fuller. Those came on a layup, two free throws and a three-pointer to close the gap to 42-38 with 17:30 remaining.

After a three-point play by MSU’s Nolan Richardson put the Mustangs up, 45-38, Burns got loose on a breakaway to pull the Buffs’ back to within five at 45-40 with 16:07 remaining. MSU then ran off four straight points to push their lead by to 49-40 before Burns answered with a 15-foot jumper. Two more unanswered Mustang buckets saw MSU leading by 11, 53-42, with 13:17 remaining in the game.

Just as quickly, Niko Styliano and Clint McFall canned long-range three-pointers to pull the Buffs within five at 54-49. MSU’s Richardson then upped the gap to eight, 57-49, with a three pointer.

Following a pair of Craig Green free throws, the Buffs turned the ball over, resulting in a Charlie Logan bucket and WT found itself trailing by 12 points. They chipped it back to a 10-point deficit on a pair of Burns free throws, but MSU took advantage of a Buff cold-shooting spell and opened its largest lead of the night to that point, 66-53, with 6:40 to play.

WT closed the gap to 73-65 with less than four minutes remaining on a three-pointer and two free throws each by McFall and Burns. An offensive charge against MSU’s Richardson led to Fabrice Tafo hitting a short jumper and the Buffs’ were back to within six points at 73-67.

After Midwestern State had opened the margin to 78-70, Niko Stylianou gave the Buffs hope with his fifth trey of the night. That cut the gap to 78-73 with 1:19 left in the game. Richardson answered with a three-pointer of his own and the Mustangs went on to win, 85-75.

“Midwestern State is a very good basketball team,” said WT head coach Rick Cooper. “They are a team that strives on runs. They made several against us tonight.

“But, what really dictated the outcome of the game was that we let them have too many second-chance baskets. You can’t win against a team on the road when you give up as many second-chance baskets as we did tonight.”

Styliano led Buff scoring with a season-high 19 points, including five three-point buckets. Tafo tallied 14 points and Burns added 10. Bijan Dotson led WT on the boards with seven. The Buffs shot 42.1 percent from the field and 69.0 pct. from the line. They also registered a season-high five blocked shots, with Justin Johnson accounting for two, while Dotson, Kyle Shields and Tafo had one apiece.

MSU was paced by Nolan Richardson’s 24 points, while Earl Rabb had a double-double with a 21-point, 10-rebound performance. Craig Green added 16 points for the Mustangs. MSU shot 45.6 percent from the filed and outrebounded the Buffs by a 45-30 margin.

The Buffs return home this weekend to face Tarleton State, Saturday, Feb. 14. Tipoff at the First United Bank Center is set for 6 p.m.