SAN ANGELO – With all five seniors scoring in double digits the No. 15-ranked Angelo State Rams completed the regular season with a 17-0 home record after earning an 88-70 Lone Star Conference win over Texas A&M-Kingsville on Saturday at the Junell Center.
The Rams (24-4, 11-3 LSC) took care of what they could with the win and will now await the result of the Tarleton State and Texas A&M-Commerce game which will be played on Sunday to see what seed they'll be in next week's LSC tournament in Allen. If the Texans fall to the Lions then the Rams and Texans will be co-regular season champions and ASU will be the top seed in the tournament. If TSU wins, the Rams will be the tournament's second seed.
Angelo State's 17 wins at home this season are the most in program history and it is the first time the team has gone undefeated at home in the regular season since the 2000-01 season went 10-0 at home. ASU, which went 7-0 in LSC play at home and extended their program-record win total to 24, won 15 of its 17 games at home by double digits this season and is now 28-2 over the past two seasons at home under the leadership of head coach
Chris Beard and associate head coach
Cinco Boone.
"One common factor on all teams that compete for championships is that you have the ability to protect your home court," Beard said. "That's something we did a good job with last year and this year's team did an even better job. Being undefeated at home, especially in this conference, really shows a lot about these guys."
On Saturday in the Junell Center, all attention was focused on closing out the regular season with a win and honoring
Marsell Holden,
Chris Jones,
Raijon Kelly,
Demario Mayfield and
Tommy Woolridge who were playing their final home games. Woolridge, who is a two-year letterman, finished the game with a season-high 15 points after going 5-for-8 on 3-pointers. A senior from Chicago, Woolridge was one 3-pointer away from matching his career-best which he had last season with six 3-pointers in a 32-point performance at Cameron.
Raijon Kelly led the Rams with 16 points after going 5-for-11 from the field and added five assists and a season-high eight rebounds.
Chris Jones also had 15 points and added four rebounds, two steals and two assists and
Marsell Holden hit two 3-pointers and finished with 13 points.
Demario Mayfield continued displaying an all-around game, finishing with 12 points, six rebounds and seven assists in the final home game of the regular season.
"We were able to feed off the crowd," Kelly said. "Every night we see this crowd we want to put on a show. We have guys who have something to prove and we have great coaches. We have dudes who come out here and play hard and want to make history."
"We prided ourselves on protecting our home court," Woolridge said. "Coach Beard said if you want to win a championship, you can't lose at home. We had to protect our court."
The Rams, who lead the nation in field-goal percentage, shot 30-for-56 (53.6 percent) against the Javelinas, including going 10-for-20 on 3-pointers. ASU hit six 3-pointers in the first half and led 39-35 at halftime. The Javelinas were limited to 42.1 percent shooting and committed 16 turnovers. Mayfield continues to lead the Rams with 15.8 points and 8.1 rebounds per game, while Jones leads the team with 136 assists and 67 steals. Holden now has 83 3-pointers on the season and is only one away from matching Kenny Smith (2004-05) for the most 3-pointers in a season in program history. Kelly is now averaging 10.5 points per game and has 93 assists and Woolridge now has 64 3-pointers in his two-year career at ASU.
Duan Wright led the Javelinas with 16 points and added six assists, while DJ Weathers added 15 points after hitting three 3-pointers. The Javelinas will be the seventh seed in next week's tournament and will play a first-round matchup against Tarleton State or Angelo State.
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