SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Then Angelo State men's basketball team emerged from an overtime bout with St. Mary's victorious (88-80) on Tuesday night.

Led by Ja'Michael Brown's career high 30 points, the Rams remained undefeated improving to 5-0 on the young season. This marked the first 30-point game of the 2017-18 season. Brown also pocketed a season high and team leading four steals for the night. With the loss, the Rattlers fell to 1-5 on the season.

Hitting 51.7 percent from inside the arch and 59 percent from deep, the squad had four other players mark double-figures in Daron Mims (15), Brandon Williams (15), Ran Tut (10) and James Kirksey (10). Angelo State also took advantage of outscoring the Rattlers on both points off of turnovers (30-16) and fast break points (12-2). Grabbing a team most 10 boards allowed Williams to also ink his first double-double of the season, while Tut completed the night with an ASU most two blocks.

"Overall, we are always going to be happy with a road win against a regional opponent such as St. Mary's," commented ASU Head Coach Cinco Boone. "However, it was disappointing to see that we did a lot of things poorly tonight. Sloppy turnovers, missed free throws, and getting outrebounded are some of the things that we need to eliminate moving forward. With three games in the next six days we will need to get these things cleaned up quickly. In a game where every possession on both ends of the court counted down the stretch, we were afforded the opportunity to learn an important lesson while still coming away with a win. We were extremely proud of the guys' resolve in finding a way to pull out the win."    

Brown got things started for the Rams with a layup and then immediately followed with a jumper to take the 4-2 lead seconds later. ASU would maintain the lead until a 9-2 Rattler run placed StMU ahead, 17-13, at the 10:39 mark. Despite a Williams dunk to tie the game at 22 with 6:24 left in the half, the Rams would be unable to regain the lead until a Tut steal was trailed by another Brown layup at the 1:05 mark. After Kirksey hit a jumper with 37 second left, St. Mary's added three points to close out the half with a 40-30 lead.

Mims opened up the second half rolling in a layup that would bring the score even at 40, but the Rattlers would nail several more shots to pull back away. The opposition would hold on to the lead through the 9:49 mark, when Tut nailed a short range shot to edge ASU back in front 59-58. The lead then exchanged hand another four times, and with 27 seconds left in the half a Brown jumper placed the Rams ahead 73-71. However, a Rattler layup would send the game to overtime tied at 73.

The Rams would turn it on in the five minute OT period as trip to the charity stipe for Tut and yet another layup from Brown placed ASU ahead by thee (76-73) will less than a minute off the clock. St. Mary's responded tying the game for the 13^th time at 76. With 3:17 on the clock, a Kirksey layup got ASU back on track as it started a 6-0 run that also saw buckets from Williams and Mims. Angelo State continued to hold StMU at bay not allowing Rattlers to get piece together any string of points. Five successful consecutive trips to the foul line would seal the deal for the Rams.

The Rams return home to host the Thanksgiving Classic on Friday, November 24 and Saturday, November 25. The Rams will take on Central Baptist and Lubbock Christian, with tip-off for both games slated for 7:30 p.m.