SAN ANGELO - After a successful opening weekend, the No. 16 Angelo State men's basketball team will continue its 2016-17 season with another home game against St. Mary's at 7 p.m. on Friday, November 25 in the Stephens Arena at the Junell Center. Admission is free to Friday's game.
The Rams (2-0) started off the season with two straight wins, defeating Huston-Tillotson and Howard Payne in the Ed Messbarger Tipoff Classic. Quay King, Prince Foster and Lorenzo Dillard led the offense in the opening weekend of games, King played the most minutes on the team with 61 and also scored the most points with 32 in the two games combined.
"I thought we had two very good opponents for the opening weekend of play," ASU head men's basketball coach Cinco Boone said. "We saw a lot of different things, both offensively and defensively. Overall, it was a learning weekend for us, which is a positive."
Foster added in 30 points from the wing and led the team in rebounds and assists as well. The senior was efficient in his scoring, shooting .533 from the field and .600 from behind the arc. Foster also recorded his first double-double of the season on Saturday against Huston-Tilllotson, bringing down 10 boards to go along with his 15 points.
Dillard is the other Ram averaging double-digit scoring so far this season, getting 12 points per game from the point guard position as well as averaging 2.5 assists per contest. ASU has gotten help from the bench as well, mainly in the form of DeVonte' Pratt and Thomas Tshikaya, who are averaging 8.5 and 7.0 points per game, respectively.
Angelo State made the most of its offensive possessions in the opening weekend of play, only turning over the ball 31 times, which ranks first in the LSC.
Defensively, the Rams did not allow either opponent to score more than 50 points per game in the opening weekend. The defensive effort was led by forward Justin Hollins, who tied the ASU single-game record for blocks in his first game with the team at eight. Hollins followed up the opening game performance with another six blocks in the Sunday contest, and his total of 14 ranks first in the Lone Star Conference. The average of seven blocks per game is also first in the conference as well as No. 1 in the nation. As a team, ASU has blocked an average of 11 shots per game, which is also first in the nation.
Pratt added in five steals in the two games, making him second in the conference, and Dillard had four to help aide the defense as well. The stifling Rams defense is ranked first in the conference and No. 2 in the nation in both opponent field goal percentage and scoring defense, and the Rams rank fifth in the nation in defensive rebounds per game as well.
"We're finding out that we're a pretty good transition team," Boone said. "If we'll get down and play good defense or create some turnovers, I think we're a pretty special team that can get to the open floor and get to the rim for some easy baskets."
St. Mary's comes into the Friday matchup already having played five games on the season, including three against Lone Star Conference opponents. The Rattlers lost their opening two games against Regis and Colorado School of Mines by a combined margin of just 10 points, but got back on track with a win against Eastern New Mexico. St. Mary's then lost a matchup with Cameron but bounced back again with a 72-70 win over then-No. 20 Midwestern State in its most recent contest.
"We have a lot of respect for the opponent coming in," Boone said. "We'll be focused on St. Mary's all this week and looking at ways we can make ourselves better so that we hopefully get a good win against a regional opponent."
