KINGSVILLE – Angelo State senior Chris Jones matched a career-best with 23 points and added five assists to help lead the No. 8/7-ranked Rams to an 85-67 Lone Star Conference road win over Texas A&M-Kingsville on Saturday at the Gil H. Steinke Physical Education Center on the Kingsville Hampton Inn Court.

The Rams (19-1, 7-0 LSC) finished off the first half of conference play unblemished with the victory and extended their program-record winning streak to 14 games. The Javelinas (6-13, 1-6 LSC) have now lost their last four games and are 3-6 at home this season. ASU, which is one win shy of reaching 20 wins for only the fifth time in its 50 seasons as a four-year institution, has now won 18 of its 19 games by double-digits and has a national-leading scoring-margin advantage of 27.6 points per game. The Rams, who expanded on a 39-32 halftime lead with a 22-5 run to start the second half, went through the first half of LSC play by winning each of their games by double-digits and are now 6-1 on the road this season.

"The big thing is that we have to keep getting better, but this was a gutsy win," ASU head coach Chris Beard said. "We knew Kingsville was going to put up a good fight. We had some good contributions from our bench tonight which I think will be key for us as we go along."

Jones finished the night shooting 10 of 15 from the field and also added seven rebounds. He matched his career-best at ASU with his 23 points which he also scored against Western State Colorado and Texas-Permian Basin. The LSC leader with 105 assists and 55 steals, Jones is now averaging 15.3 points per game from the point guard position and is leading the Rams who are scoring 90.7 points per game and pacing the conference with a 54.5 field-goal percentage and 19.5 team assists per game.  

"I think Chris could probably get 23 in the first half in almost any game he wanted to. He's a team player though and will take what comes to him. Kingsville is a team that really pressures out on the wings. They really try to deny defensively and Chris was able to take advantage of that by having some good drives to the basket."

Marsell Holden added 13 points after hitting two 3-pointers, while Demario Mayfield went for 12 points and eight rebounds. Holden drilled back-to-back 3-pointers early in the second half to give the Rams a 55-37 lead with just over 15 minutes to play. Mayfield struggled from the field by shooting 3 of 8, but made up for his off-night with six free throws and also added four assists along with Raijon Kelly. Omari Gudul had his third straight double-digit scoring performance with 11 points on a 4 of 5 shooting performance and also added five rebounds, while Kelly had eight points and four rebounds to go along with his four assists. Gudul was coming off two 12-point performances against Cameron and A&M-Commerce and is now averaging 8.0 points and 5.1 rebounds per game.

ASU, which came into the game leading the nation in field-goal percentage and scoring margin, finished the game shooting 51.6 percent from the field and hit 6 of 13 shots from beyond the arc. Limiting opponents to 37.8 percent defensively, which ranked third nationally, the Rams held the Javelinas to 38.3 percent on 23 of 60 shooting. Kingsville was also held to 3 of 25 on its 3-point shots and hurt itself by shooting 52.9 percent (18 of 34) from the free-throw line. The Rams, on the other hand, shot 15 of 20 from the free-throw line and also had a 31-20 rebounding advantage.

"We make the turn now and this is when it gets challenging and fun for all the coaches and players in a great league like ours," Beard said. "To beat someone once takes almost all you've got and then to beat them twice in one season is very difficult. We have a couple of days now to rest our bodies and get ready for a good West Texas A&M team that gave us a lot to handle the first time up in Canyon. We are going to have to continue getting better. I think our team has a chance to win some games in the month of March and I think our players understand that we'll have to continue getting better to achieve our goals."

The Rams led 39-32 at halftime with Jones leading the way with nine points and three assists, while Tommy Woolridge had eight points after hitting a pair of first-half 3-pointers and also a jumper. Woolridge would finish the game with those eight points and Thomas Brandsma had five points. The ASU bench had a 27-13 scoring advantage over the Javelinas. Mayfield added six points and five rebounds in the opening 20 minutes with Holden going for five points and Taylor contributing four points. The Rams were limited to a 46.7 field-goal percentage, but defensively, ASU held the Javelinas to 35.3 percent shooting and to 14.3 percent on their 3-point attempts. The Javelinas had a 16-15 lead early in the first half, but an 8-0 run later in the half gave the Rams a 37-26 lead with just over four minutes remaining after Taylor hit back-to-back baskets. ASU led by as many as 11 at 39-28 before the Javelinas scored the final four points of the half with a jumper by Don Thomas and a pair of free throws by Trey Sumpter.

Angelo State will return to action at 8 p.m. on Wednesday against West Texas A&M in the first game of the second half of conference play. The Rams earned an 88-60 win over the Buffs in the first game between the two teams in Canyon on Jan. 14 in Canyon. WT (13-8, 3-4 LSC) will be coming off a 76-73 road-win over ENMU. ASU will enter Wednesday's game with a 13-0 record at home this season and are 24-2 inside the Junell Center over the past two seasons. The Rams have not lost since dropping a 70-67 decision to Colorado Mesa on Nov. 28, 2014 in Grand Junction, Colorado.