BOX SCORE: Angelo State 68, McMurry 55
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SAN ANGELO – Kenny Williams recorded his fourth double-double of the season with 16 points and 12 rebounds to help lead the Angelo State men's basketball team to a 68-55 non-conference win over McMurry on Tuesday at the Junell Center.
 
The Rams (8-0) established the best start to a season in program history with the win and are one victory away from matching the program's longest winning streak of nine games which was set by the 1987-88 and 2000-01 teams. ASU also swept the season series against the War Hawks (4-2) after also picking up a 73-70 road win last Friday in Abilene.
 
Tuesday's 13-point win didn't come easy though as the teams were tied at 35 with 13 minutes to play before the Rams pulled away by shooting 57.7 percent from the floor in the second half and finishing the game with a season-high six 3-pointers. ASU's defense limited McM to 35.3 percent shooting and the Rams outrebounded their opponent 40-29.
 
Chris Talkington scored a season-high 12 points, including hitting three 3-pointers. Reggie Sutton added 10 points and three rebounds, while Justin Walling scored eight points on two 3-pointers to highlight a 35-7 ASU advantage on bench scoring in the game.
 
"Our depth is kind of crazy on this team," ASU head coach Chris Beard said. "We have 15 guys who can play. Tonight's game Chris Talkington and Justin Walling were huge. We don't win this game without those two guys. It goes to show their character because they were ready when their name was called. I respect guys like that."
 
Daniel Skinner went for eight points and five rebounds with Omari Gudul adding four steals and four points for the Rams. Bryan Hammond, who had led the Rams in scoring the past two games, contributed eight assists and scored five points in a distributor's role on Tuesday.
 
ASU created 18 turnovers in the game and transitioned those into 23 points, while the game of back-and-forth runs was put to bed when the Rams went on a 11-4 run midway through the second half to get out to a 46-39 advantage with 10:10 to play.
 
Williams is now averaging 17.3 points and 8.1 rebounds per game this season, while Hammond leads the team with 39 assists.
 
Brandon Golden led the War Hawks with 18 points and eight rebounds, while Connor Robinson scored 13 points and had six rebounds. McM went 14 of 18 from the free-throw line, while ASU shot 16 of 27 from the line.
 
Walling led the Rams with five points at halftime, while Skinner and Williams had four points each. The Rams shot 30.8 percent on 26 attempts in the first 20 minutes and went 6 for 11 at the free-throw line. ASU committed 13 turnovers, but outrebounded the War Hawks 25-15 with Williams leading the way with six defensive rebounds.
 
"We didn't allow our bad offense to affect our defense in the first half," Beard said. "To hold a team like that to 20 points at halftime I knew that we were going to have a chance to win the game because of our defense. McMurry was making us take some tough shots and were making some play. Our guys showed great composure and stayed the course."
 
The Rams trailed by as much as 10 with the score at 16-6 with 9:27 remaining in the first half before going on an 18-4 run to end the half. Back-to-back baskets from Skinner and Hammond cut the deficit to 20-15 with 5:06 remaining before Walling hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to two with four minutes remaining. Sutton then tied the game with a layup and gave the Rams their first lead by converting an old-fashion three-point play by hitting a free throw. Walling added two free throws with 0.1 seconds remaining to give ASU the four-point halftime advantage.
 
UP NEXT: Angelo State will play Arkansas Fort Smith at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 7. The game against the Lions will be played in Plano at Collin College in an in-region, neutral court game at Cougar Hall on the Spring Creek Campus.