EL PASO – Tommy Woolridge scored 19 points and
Kenny Williams added 20 points and nine rebounds to help lead Angelo State to a 75-70 exhibition win over UTEP on Saturday at the Don Haskins Center.
"This was an exhibition game. Our players and staff understood that," ASU head coach
Chris Beard said. "We would much rather win a Lone Star Conference game. But as a competitor you try and win everything you do: every drill, every sprint, every academic assignment and every game. So I am proud of our team and especially our seniors. Our respect level for UTEP and coach (Tim) Floyd is off the charts. We try to play like UTEP plays, with an emphasis on defense and unselfish offense. Again, we appreciate Coach Floyd scheduling this game and giving us an opportunity to play at one of the most historical places in college basketball."
The Rams hit 11 of 22 shots from beyond the arc and won the turnover margin 15-9 against the Miners who were limited to four 3-pointers in the game. Woolridge hit five 3-pointers on seven attempts, while Williams hit two 3-pointers for the Rams and scored 16 of his points in the second half.
Chris Talkington added eight points and hit two 3-pointers with
Thomas Brandsma scoring seven and
Daniel Skinner contributing six points.
Bryan Hammond led the Rams with five assists with
Nash Nelson adding four assists and scoring three points. Skinner and Talkington each added three assists. UTEP outscored the Rams 20-8 at the free-throw line.
Angelo State (10-2) will open Lone Star Conference play at 8 p.m. on Wednesday against No. 9 Tarleton State in Stephenville before hosting Texas A&M-Commerce at 5 p.m. on Sunday at the Junell Center. The Miners (10-5) open Conference USA action on Thursday against Charlotte in El Paso.
"UTEP will get better because of tonight's game and our challenge is to do the same," Beard said. "We must continue to improve."
The Rams extended their 39-29 halftime lead to 58-41 five minutes into the second half after a barrage of 3-pointers. Woolridge hit two 3-pointers followed by one from Talkington and then two more by Williams.
Omari Gudul would add to the lead with a jumper to take it to 62-50 before a Williams jump shot took the lead to 64-52 with a little over 10 minutes to play.
UTEP trimmed the ASU lead to three when Hunter hit two free throws to take the score to 65-62, but Williams followed with a layup off an assists from Gudul to push the lead back to five with a little over five minutes to play. Williams scored his 18th point of the game on a jumper to extend ASU's lead to 69-62 with 4:45 remaining. Gudul pushed the lead to 71-64 on a layup off an assist from Williams before UTEP's Julian Washburn hit a 3-pointer to trim the deficit to four with 1:07 left and C.J. Cooper drilled another 3-pointer to cut the score to 71-70 with 38 seconds on the clock. Woolridge pushed the lead to 73-70 with a pair of free throws before Williams ended the game with two free throws to take the game to its conclusion at 75-70.
Angelo State led 39-29 at halftime after going 6 of 10 from beyond the arc and having a 12-6 turnover margin advantage over the Miners.
Tommy Woolridge led the Rams with 11 points, while
Chantz Chambers and Talkington each had five points through the first 20 minutes of action. Skinner, who opened scoring with a dunk off the tip, was matched by Brandsma and Williams with four points at halftime. Williams led the Rams with four rebounds at the break.
Vince Hunter led the Miners with seven points at halftime with Matt Willms contributing four points and six rebounds. UTEP shot 58.8 percent from the field in the first half (10-17), but were limited to 1 of 5 on 3-pointers.
