WICHITA FALLS, Texas – The Angelo State men's basketball fell to Tarleton State, 77-72, in the NCAA South Central Regional finale.

The Rams capped off its season with its second trip to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen. ASU's 25-7 record marked the second best record in program history. The Angelo State offense had four players score in double-figures and outscored the Texans 16-8 in bench points. The Rams were outrebounded 43-to-32 by TSU. Tarleton State moved to 24-8 and will advance to the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Playoffs in Frisco, Texas.

"My players never quit and they played it to the bone and I'm very proud of them for that," commented ASU head basketball coach Cinco Boone. "We were down seven or eight ad if they would have just missed a free throw or two you would have seen an overtime game because we are never out of it. It's been an incredible season for this team. I'm really proud of these seniors and what they mean to our program and am looking forward to working with the underclassmen in the months to come.

The two teams battled thought the first half with ASU hitting 50 percent from the field. After allowing the Texans to take a 5-0 lead out of the gate, Quay King got Angelo State back in the game with a jumper and a three ball to bring the score back to even. At the 9:57 mark, a TSU 3-pointer gave the Texans its greatest lead of the half. However, the Rams would climb back to once again even things up and head into the break with the score tied at 38 apiece.

ASU came out in the second half hitting only 25 percent from field and 26.32 percent from the arc. These were both significant drops from the team's first half numbers. Angelo gained the lead only once this half, when Tre Bennett kicked of a 6-0 run stroking four out of six free throws and Omari Gudul dropping in the remaining two. The Rams were unable to piece together a run larger than six points during the last half of play. After the Texans regained the lead at the 14:15 mark of the second half and held on for 13 minutes and 36 seconds, King knocked down a pair of free throws and his second three ball of the half scoring five straight points to tie the score at 62. The Rams would be unable to climb back into the lead for the remainder.

Bennett led the offense scoring 21 points. The senior completed his collegiate career marking double-digit points in the final 23 games of the season. He also recorded a team high six assists and one steal for the night.

King and Thomas Tshikaya also made stellar contributions to the team's efforts. King recorded a team second 16 points, and also led the team pulling down eight boards from the night. Tshikaya also hit double-figure points, tallying 11 points against TSU for his eighth double-digit performance. Defensively, he recorded a team second seven rebounds, team leading two blocks and pocketed a steal.

Completing the top performers of the night, Prince Foster scored 13 points for the game. He also added three assist and four boards to his final numbers for the night.