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Nov. 24, 2007

Box Score

CANYON, Texas - Three Buffaloes scored in double digits as the West Texas A&M men's basketball team picked up its second win of the season with an 85-55 victory over Western State in WT's Coca-Cola Thanksgiving Shootout presented by Holiday Inn. The Buffs dominated play in their home opener at the First United Bank Center, as junior Keon Grant scored a team-high 18 points and seniors Chris Hinz and Andre Hill tallied 16 points apiece.

Senior Robert Lee again was a solid contributor, scoring seven points and pulling down a team-high eight rebounds. Senior Tyler Cooper was a defensive force for WT as he collected seven rebounds, the second most on the team. He also added five points and four assists.

The Buffs jumped out to an early 22-11 lead with the help of an old fashioned three-point play from Hinz and three consecutive points from Lee. WT took its biggest lead of the half at 36-19 when senior Pierre Barlow stole the ball and fed the ball to Hinz for an easy lay-up; the Buffs rolled to a 12-point advantage at the end of the first half.

The second half saw the Buffs continue their solid play as they shot 63.3% from the floor and 55.6% from behind the three-point line. Hill scored 14 of his 16 total points in the second half, while junior Clint McFall scored seven and sophomore Ben Doherty contributed with five.

West Texas A&M did not allow Western State to score until the 16:16 minute mark of the second half, but the Buffs had already scored multiple times as they held a 50-27 advantage. The gap was too big for the Mountaineers to overcome and the Buffalo defense shut down the Western State offensive drive as WT finished the game with a 30-point lead.

With the win, WT improves to 2-2 on the season and advances to Saturday's tournament championship game against Harding, set to tip off at 8 p.m.