SAN ANGELO - The Angelo State basketball team won its sixth straight game to open the 2017-18 season Friday night in the Stephens Arena at the Junell Center, defeating Central Baptist College 68-54.

The Rams got more than half of their points in the paint, scoring 36 from inside the lane and also got a strong performance from their bench with 22 points coming from non-starters.

ASU got on the board first with a layup from James Kirksey, but the lead did not last long as CBC hit a three-pointer in response. The two teams traded leads several more times in the 13 minutes of the game. Kirksey's hot start continued throughout the game as the junior guard finished with a team-leading and career-high 20 points.

The Rams opened up a four-point lead as Deron Mims hit a free throw with 8:07 left in the first half, but the Mustangs closed the gap and retook a 15-14 lead just a minute later.

With five minutes left in the opening half, Angelo State finally put together a run, scoring 16 straight points to open up a 13-poinnt lead capped off by a layup from Ja'Michael Brown. Brown ended the night leading the team in both rebounds and assists with seven of each, and the guard had seven points as well.   

Central Baptist ended its drought with just under two minutes to play in the half, but buckets from forwards Brandon Williams and Ran Tut allowed the Rams to hold onto a double-digit lead heading into the locker room.

Both Tut and Williams had strong nights as Williams scored 11 points and pulled down four rebounds, while Tut pulled down four rebounds and scored three points.

Neither team started out hot in the second half, but Angelo State got the first score once again on a jumper from Mims with 17:44 left to play in the game. Mims then hit again from behind the arc, and after a CBC made free throw, Will Adler hit a jumper from the left wing to increase the ASU lead to 16 points.

The Rams continued to push the lead wider throughout the second half as Brandon Conwright hit a three-pointer to push it to 18 points and Mims hit another layup to make the gap 21 with 9:17 left in the half.

CBC responded with a couple of small scoring spurts, but were unable to cut to anything lower than 14 points. With 4:43 left in the game, Will Adler hit a three-pointer to put the Rams up 22 points, their largest lead of the contest.

Angelo State traded baskets with Central Baptist for the remainder of the game, finishing off the win 68-54.

Angelo State will play one more game this weekend in the ASU Thanksgiving Classic, taking on Lubbock Christian at 7:30 p.m. in the Stephens Arena at the Junell Center.