ALLEN – Demario Mayfield recorded his 11th double-double of the season and Chris Jones scored 21 points and Marsell Holden hit five 3-pointers to help lead No. 17-ranked Angelo State to an 83-73 Lone Star Conference Championship quarterfinal win over Texas A&M-Kingsville on Wednesday at the Allen Events Center.

The Rams (25-4) jumped out to a 20-point lead 13 minutes into the game, led by 16 at halftime and withstood a charge by the Javelinas (8-18) to advance to the semifinals of the tournament for the second straight season. ASU will play the winner of a Midwestern State-Cameron quarterfinal matchup which will take place at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday ahead of semifinal Friday. The Rams will be making their 13th semifinal appearance in program history and are 6-6 in the previous 12 semifinal games. 

Mayfield went for 19 points and match his career-best with 14 rebounds in the win over the Javelinas, while Holden went 5-for-10 on 3-pointers. Holden now has 88 3-pointers on the season which establishes a new Angelo State single-season record which was previously held by Kenny Smith who had 84 3-pointers in the 2004-05 season. Holden scored 14 of his 20 points in the first half to help the Rams race out their first-half lead, while Jones had 15 of his 21 points in the first half. Jones has now scored 20 or more points in seven games and added three assists and two steals in the win over the Javelinas. Mayfield scored eight of his points at the free-throw line where he went 8-for-10.

Omari Gudul added 10 points and seven rebounds, while Raijon Kelly led the team with six assists which takes his season total to 99 assists. Kelly and Thomas Brandsma each had four points in the game and Tommy Woolridge added three points. Gudul had one blocked shot and now leads the Rams with 21 blocks this season. 

"It's March and it's all about just winning the games and surviving and advancing," ASU head coach Chris Beard said. "We are thrilled to win. To beat a team three times in one season is very difficult. It was tough because it was Kingsville. I thought they played great tonight. Games like this is why you work so hard in the summer and why they call it March Madness. We talk a lot about mental toughness in our program and we really believe in that. This time of year you're not going to feel great. You're going to be tired and be banged up. We pride ourselves on our toughness and we're about to find out a lot about our team here in the month of March."

Angelo State dominated the first half and led 18-10 on a Holden 3-pointer just seven minutes into the game and led 36-16 when Mayfield hit a 3-pointer with seven minutes remaining in the half. ASU took a 49-33 lead into halftime after shooting 56.3 percent from the field and hitting five 3-pointers, while the Javelinas were held to 44.4 percent shooting which included a 2-for-9 performance from beyond the arc.

ASU maintained a double-digit lead for the first 10 minutes of the second half before the Javelinas made a run to cut it to 61-53 with 10:02 to play on a layup by Duan Wright. TAMUK had gone on an 8-0 run and were within two points of the Rams when Jordan Jahr hit a layup and free throw to put the score at 62-60 with 7:57 remaining. ASU responded though with Jones converting a three-point play which started with an inside shot and then a free throw and the Rams pushed their lead to 78-66 with Holden hitting his fifth 3-pointer with 1:55 to play.
 
The Rams owned a 40-30 rebounding advantage in the game and had a 13-5 advantage on fast-break scoring. ASU finished the game shooting 50.8 percent which is the 22nd time this season the team has shot over 50 percent. ASU's only deficit the entire game came with the Javelinas leading at 2-0 in the very early stages of the game.

Duan Wright led the Javelinas with 21 points and eight rebounds, while Don Thomas added 12 points and DJ Weathers had 10. TAMUK finished the game shooting 44.8 percent from the field  and went 14-for-20 from the free-throw line. ASU hit 17 of 23 from the line.

Angelo State ended the Javelinas' season with the win and earned three double-digit wins over TAMUK this season, including the past two games played. ASU is now 3-0 all-time against the Javelinas in the quarterfinals of the tournament. The all-time series is now tied 51-51, but the Rams own a 7-1 all-time advantage over TAMUK in the tournament. 

ASU extended its program-record win total to 25 with the victory. The previous most wins in a season was 22.