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Feb. 28, 2006

Box Score

The West Texas A&M University men's basketball team continued its late season surge as the Buffs pulled away from Southwestern Oklahoma State University, 84-70, Tuesday night at the First United Bank Center in a Lone Star Conference Tournament quarterfinal contest. With the win, WTAMU will head to Durant, Okla., where they'll face host and the North's number one seed, Southeastern Oklahoma State University Friday night at 8 p.m. in the semifinals.

The bracket went according to hoyle, with all the top seeds advancing, as the North's top seed, Southeastern Oklahoma pulled away to rout the fourth seed from the South, Eastern New Mexico University, 93-83. The University of Central Oklahoma, the North's second seed, trounced the South's third seed, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, 84-66. The South's top seed and 13th-ranked Tarleton State University, beat the North's fourth seed, Texas A&M University-Commerce, 71-70, on a layup with three seconds left.

Central Oklahoma will face Tarleton State in Friday's first semifinal at 6 p.m., followed by WTAMU-Southeastern Oklahoma at 8 p.m. Friday's winners will advance to Saturday's title tilt at 7 p.m.

Tuesday night's win was WTAMU first over SWOSU since 2004, as the Bulldogs have won four of the last five meetings, including the last three by a combined seven points, including a 66-65 OT thriller this season back on Dec. 3 at SWOSU. The Bulldogs have also won the last three match-ups with the Buffs at the First United Bank Center.

Those woes came to an end Tuesday, as WTAMU improved to a perfect 15-0 at home this season, currently on a 19-game home winning streak and have won 22 of the last 24 games in the home whites.

Four Buff starters scored in double-figures, led by junior guard Damien Lolar's fifth double-double of the season with game highs of 25 points and 10 rebounds, along with four assists. Senior guard Ronnie Holmes tallied 16 points, while sophomores, forward Tyler Cooper and guard Kyle Shields, went for 15 and 13 points, respectively.

Lolar did most of his damage in the first half, scoring 15 points, while the other three came up huge after halftime, as Shields tallied at 13 of his points, while Holmes netted 10 and Cooper nine in the second half.

Tied at 31 at the break, WTAMU outscored SWOSU 53-39 after halftime to pull away.

The Buffs netted a whopping 69.2 percent (18-of-26) from the field in the second half, including 6-of-11 (54.5 percent) behind the 3-point arc. Those shooting performances balanced out a dismal first-half shooting performance, as WTAMU was 10-of-30 (33.3 percent) from the field, hitting just 2-of-12 (16.7 percent) behind the arc.

WTAMU ended the night at 50.0 percent (28-of-56), improving to 34.8 3-point percentage (8-of-23). The Buffs also were 20-of-29 (69.0 percent) at the charity stripe, led by Lolar with 9-of-12, while Holmes was 9-of-12.

SWOSU also had four players in double-digits, as Reggie Gunn and Lonnie Cooks scored 15 points each, while McKinley Bethea added 13 and Jon Gunn tossed in 11 points.

The Bulldogs shot 42.1 percent (24-of-57) from the field, including a paltry 6-of-25 (24.0 percent) behind the 3-point arc. SWOSU was 16-of-28 (57.1 percent) at the free throw line.

SWOSU led by as much as nine in the first half at 29-20 after a conventional three-point play from Cooks at the 4:52 mark, but WTAMU closed the half with an 11-2 run, capped by a tip-in by Lolar with two seconds left before halftime to knot the score at 31-all.

Shields hit a 3-pointer at the 13:15 mark to put the Buffs ahead, 47-40 before the Bulldog charged to close to 50-48 with 11:09 to go after a Cooks layup.

The Buffs regained contral as Holmes and Cooper hit treys in consecutive possessions to put WTAMU ahead, 61-52 with 8:26 remaining.

The window of opportunity to come back was slammed shut at the 5:21 mark as Cooper scored a 3-pointer that bounced around on every part of the rim, even going up high off the glass and then rattled around on the rim some more before finally falling through the net, and the Buffs coasted to the win.

WTAMU is ranked No. 6 in the NCAA-II South Central Region Rankings, which determine the 8-team field for the South Central Regional Tournament, with the final rankings announced Wednesday afternoon before the Tournament field is announced Sunday night.

The Buffs are pursuing their LSC-record sixth Tournament title, but their first since 2003.

-WT-