SAN ANGELO, Texas – The No.15/22 Angelo State men's basketball team will head to Allen, Texas for the Lone Star Conference Championship Tournament on Wednesday, March 2, where it will face off with Texas A&M – Kingsville at 2:30 p.m. in the initial round of play.
The Rams will be participating in its 29th Lone Star Conference Championship Tournament, in which the team has won three times (1984, 1988, 1989). This will also be head coach Cinco Boone's third trip to the conference tournament and first as the Angelo State head coach. During his time as an assistant under then Head Coach Chris Beard the Rams advanced to the second round in 2013-14 and lost in the third and final round to Texas A&M – Commerce, 68-61, during its historic 2014-15 season.
ASU defeated the Javelinas, 90-84, in its last regular season game of the year. Earlier in the season the Rams also downed the TAMUK , 74-71, in a close match-up that concluded with a buzzer beating three for ASU. The last time the Rams faced the Javelins in the conference championship tournament was during the 2014-15 season, in which they downed the hogs, 83-73.
The Angelo State offense has led the Lone Star Conference with the highest scoring offense throughout the season and has finished its regular season scoring an average of 88.2 points per game. As a team the Rams also lead the conference having sunk .724 percent of its shots from the stripe. Its offense also has recorded a conference high 15.46 assists per game. On the defensive side of the ball ASU leads the LSC having forced 17.9 points per game and having pocketed a conference high 8.85 steals per game.
Omari Gudul has been a consistent veteran leader for the Rams. He continues to be a rock for the ASU defense as well as a valuable scorer on the offense. In the team's last regular season game against Texas A&M – Kingsville he posted a team and career high 27 points. This was the most points scored since Tommy Woolridge scored 32 against Cameron on January 25, 2014. He also capped his night off pulling down 11 boards to earn his sixth double-double of the year and tallying three blocks. Gudul leads the team and is currently fourth in the conference with a team leading 7.8 boards per game. The native of the Democratic Republic of Congo has recorded a team high 46 blocked shots this season which is averaging him 1.7 per game. The senior has complete the regular season averaging a team fourth 9.5 points per game.
Senior, Tre Bennett, has led the squad scoring an average of 16.8 points per game for the past several weeks. He dropped in 14 points during ASU's regular season finale, which marked his 17th consecutive game scoring double-digit points. The Houston native has scored at least 20 points in seven games this season. He is currently boasting a .457 shooting percentage from the field, a .385 percent from 3-point range and a LSC first .862 percent from the foul line. With a 4.8 assist per game average, Bennett has claimed the number one spot in the conference. Defensively, the senior has tallied 37 steals on the year.
Second on the squad averaging 16.2 points per game, Stedman Allen has also recorded 17 straight game scoring double-figures as he scored 14 points against the Javelinas in the team's last game. He is currently hitting .514 percent of his shots from the field and .699 from the stripe. Supporting the Rams defensive efforts, he has recorded a team third a 5.2 rebounds per game and has improved his steals total to 27 this year.
Quay King completes the team's top scorers as he is currently second on the team from beyond the arc having sunk 60 total threes on the year. He is currently averaging 10.1 points per game and is second on the Rams shooting 36.9 percent from deep. The junior is now averaging 2.4 threes per game. He has marked double-figure points in six of the last eight games and in 11 total games this season.
Thomas Tshikaya has been a dominating force from inside the key for the Rams all year. The junior has grabbed an average of 5.3 boards per game and multiple boards in 24 games this season. He also has recorded a team second 27 blocked shots on the season. The French national has also pocketed 17 steals this season. He is averaging 6.9 points per game on offense and has earned two double-doubles this season.
Guards Prince Foster, Shaquan Rhoades and DeVonte' Pratt have all provided great versatility to the Rams. Foster, a junior out of Miami, Florida has recorded a team second 34 steals on the year and has recorded at least one steal in six of the last seven games. He is also third on the squad with 25 blocked shots this season. Foster has marked 54 assist this season for a team second 2.1 assists per game. He has scored at least five points per game for the last nine games and continues averaging 7.5 points per game. Rhoades has improved his total number of steals to 27, which earns him a share of third place on the team. He has also improved to a total of 47 assists and continues to average 1.9 per game. Finally, Pratt has been a consistent presence off the bench for ASU. He has score 21 total points in the past three games and is averaging 5.0 points per game. Pratt is currently hitting .455 of his shots from the field, .353 from deep and .667 from the line.
All ASU Tournament games will be broadcasted on 1260AM KKSA with the voice of the Rams, Jeremy Bryant, on the call.
