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Buffs Advance To LSC Title Tilt With 80-75 Win Over Indians In Semifinals
March 4, 2005
Click Here for LIVE STATS of Saturday's LSC Championship game (7:30 p.m. Central Time)
Live Stats brought to you by Texas A&M-Commerce Sports Information Department
COMMERCE, Texas --- The West Texas A&M University Buff basketball team continued its winning ways as the underdog, knocking off a higher seed for the second game in a row by dropping the second-seed out of the South, Midwestern State University, 80-75, in the Lone Star Conference Tournament semifinals Friday night, hosted by top-seed Texas A&M University-Commerce at the TAMU-C Field House. With the win, the Buffs advance to the title tilt an LSC-record ninth time and are going for an LSC-record sixth conference crown.
WTAMU, the fourth-seed from the South, continued its season-long four-game winning streak and will advance to the LSC Championship game on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. The Buffs will face the winner of Friday's late semifinal game between Tarleton State University, the lone representative from the North Division and host, No. 8 TAMU-Commerce, the top seed from the South.
The Buffs improve to 16-13 on the year after beating the Indians for the third time this season, as MSU falls to 18-11. WTAMU improves to 24-16 all-time vs. MSU, winning for the sixth time in the last nine meetings.
The win was WTAMU's eighth win in the last 10 games overall, as well as the fifth victory away from home in the last six road games.
Senior guard Carl Lamb tallied a game-high 23 points, hitting three 3-pointers and going 8-of-8 from the free throw line, as well as snaring six rebounds, dishing out four assists and swiping four steals. Junior guard Ronnie Holmes notched a career-high with 17 points, including 13 in the first half, and doled out six dimes, snared five rebounds and swiped three steals. Senior forward Jamil Terrell added nine points to go with his game-high 10 rebounds, coming up a point shy of his 11th double-double of the year.
The difference in the game was on the boards, as WTAMU outrebounded MSU, 38-31, including 16 on the offensive end, which led to a 24-9 Buffs' domination in second-chance points.
WTAMU shot 23-of-55 (41.8 percent) from the field, including a steamy 41.7 percent (10-of-24) from 3-point land, and were 24-of-31 (77.4 percent) from the charity stripe.
MSU was 27-of-56 (48.2 percent) field goal shooting and were 4-of-19 (21.1 percent) from behind the arc, as well as 17-of-23 (73.9 percent) from the free throw line.
The Indians were led by 13 points apiece from Eddie Rowe and Leonard Pralour, as they tried to pick up the slack for MSU's two leading scorers, Jay January and Justin James, who only combined for 11 points, all in the second half, as they came into the game averaging a combined 26 points.
The Buffs started the game on a slow start and ended the half on a thunderous roll, storming away from a 18-16 lead with a 22-8 streak to end the half, taking a 40-26 lead into intermission.
WTAMU opened a 10-2 lead on back-to-back 3-pointers from Brown and Campbell, the latter tickling the twine with 17:07 on the clock, prompting an MSU timeout.
The Indians charged back with a 9-0 run to take an 11-10 lead at the 14:14 mark, and later went ahead 14-12 with 11:10 to go after 1-of-2 free throws from Shelton Hawkins.
That would be the last lead for MSU, as WTAMU went on a 14-2 streak, getting a trey from Lamb in the left corner followed by a 3 from Holmes at the top of the arc, to take a 26-10 lead with 5:11 to go in the half.
The Buffs' lead swelled to it largest of the half at 37-23 on a pair of free throws from senior forward Richard Higginbotham with 1:52 to play and WTAMU matched the lead at 40-26 after Holmes drilled a trey from the left wing.
With WTAMU up, 49-38, MSU went on a 9-2 run, with the Buffs' lone points coming on a thunderous one-handed jam, as the Indians closed to 51-47 with 10:49 on the game clock.
MSU threatened to take the lead, closing to 55-52 with 7:25 before junior guard Govinda Thomas-Carter drained consecutive 3-pointers, the first from deep on the left wing and the second from the left corner to give the Buffs some breathing room at 61-52 with 6:36 remaining, and less than a minute later had a fast-break finger roll and was fouled. Thomas-Carter hit the ensuing free throw to open a 64-53 lead with 5:53 to go.
The Indians charged back, closing to 71-69 with 1:54 to go, but couldn't get any closer.
Lamb hit a pair of free throws with 53.5 ticks on the clock to put WTAMU ahead, 75-71 and the Buffs took their final timeout to set up for the final minute of regulation.
On MSU's ensuing possession, Holmes knocked the ball loose, and forced a tie-up with January, and the possession arrow pointed in WTAMU's direction.
The Indians closed to 76-75 with 12.4 seconds left after a runner from Hawkins, but junior guard Jarvis Brown hit a pair of free throws with 11.0 seconds left for a 78-75 Buffs' advantage. As MSU pushed the ball up the court for the final shot, Holmes again knocked the ball away near mid-court and Lamb picked up the ball and drove in for a slam dunk as the buzzer rang, sparking WTAMU's victory jubilation.
Saturday's championship game will be broadcast on 1550 AM if the WTAMU women win their LSC semifinal game, but will be on KGNC 710 AM if the Lady Buffs' lose Friday night. The same game that will be on KGNC will be streamed on the Internet at www.gobuffsgo.com.
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