COMMERCE, Texas – For the first time since January 2008, the No. 12/20 Rams basketball team came away with a crucial, 90-80, road win over Texas A&M – Commerce on Saturday night.
With the win, Angelo State improved to 19-4 on the season and 7-4 in the conference. This also placed the Rams in the three way tie with Midwestern State and West Texas A&M for second place in the Lone Star Conference. Offensively, ASU had five players score in double-figures and two players mark double-doubles on the night. The bench outscored the Lions 24-7. Marking a season low eight turnovers for the game, ASU outscored TAMUC 16-8 off of turnovers. The Lions slid to 16-8, 5-6 LSC with the loss.
"We haven't won here in eight year and it was a big time win," commented ASU head basketball coach Cinco Boone. "They had 14 turnovers and I think we converted almost every single time. Thomas Tshikaya had a double-double at half time and had a great game. Our Guards were a little bit bigger than their guards so we started going to Quay [King], and late in the second half he started making some big shots over their guy. Tre Bennett had 10 assists and also performed well for us. We can still get batter though."
Prince Foster opened the first half for the Rams blocking a shot, pulling down the rebound, then going coast to coast to roll in a layup for the first score of the game. The two team s then traded the lead 12 times before a Thomas Tshikaya dunk at the 6:12 mark would kick off a 15-7 run that would take ASU in to the half with a 43-35 lead.
Angelo State came out of the break with Tre Bennett hitting a deep 3-pointer right out of the gate to take the score to 46-35. Commerce climbed back to within four points several times throughout the second half, but the Rams did not relinquish the lead. Another dunk from Tshikaya at the 4:31 mark gave Angelo State its greatest lead of the game with a score of 80-66. After shooting only 35.71 percent from the field in the first, ASU improved to a stellar 54.05 percent in the second half hitting 20-of-37 shots from inside the arc.
Tshikaya led the team against TAMUC finishing the game with a season high 20 points and 13 boards. This earned the big man his second double-double of the year. He was 8-of-18 from the field and 3-of-4 from the stripe. This was his sixth game of the season scoring in double-digits. The native of France also added a block and a steal to his numbers for the night.
Quay King marked a team second 18 points for the game. He was 7-of-11 from the field and 4-of-7 from 3-point range. Defensively, he was one of three to pull down a team second six rebounds and one of two to record a team second two steals.
Prince Foster and Stedman Allen each recorded 15 points for the night. Foster also shot 7-of-11 for a solid .636 from the field. He tallied six boards, a block and two steals to assist the Rams defensive efforts. Allen was a perfect 3-of-3 from the stripe and knocked out 6-of-11 from short range. This was his 14th consecutive game hitting double-digit points.
Finally, point guard Tre Bennett put up 14 points, also marking his 14th consecutive double-figure performance. The senior dished out the ball a season high 10 times, which earned him his first double-double of the year. He fell four rebounds (6) short of earning the programs second triple-double in history. Bennett also led the team with three steals.
The Rams return to the Stephens Arena at the Junell Center for senior night on Wednesday, February 10 at 7:30 p.m. to take on Cameron, which is currently holding on to the No.1 spot in the Lone Star Conference.
"We need everybody there to help us honor these three seniors that have done such a good job for us, and help us to get a good win over Cameron," added coach Boone.
