ALLEN, Texas - The Angelo State men's basketball team upset the No. 2 seed Tarleton State in the opening round of the Lone Star Conference postseason tournament Thursday, topping the Texans 85-82 in Allen.
The Rams (16-11, 8-6 LSC) went down early in the overtime period after a three-pointer from the Texans put them up 77-75. ASU responded with a dunk from Brandon Williams and a three-pointer from Shaquan Rhoades to regain the lead. Tarleton tied the game one last time with just over a minute remaining, but Quay King broke the stalemate with a layup, and the Rams would never lose the lead again for the upset victory.
King led all scorers in the game with 26 points on 10-of-22 shooting. The senior added three rebounds and three assists on the game. Three other Rams reached the double-digit scoring mark in the game, including DeVonte' Pratt (16), Brandon Williams (16) and Prince Foster (11).
Foster was also the team's leading rebounder with 12 total, marking his third straight game with a double-double and his fourth overall. The Miami native was also the team assist leader with eight in the matchup, making him just two assists shy of a triple-double.
Williams was the most efficient Ram against the Texans, shooting 7-for-9 from the floor and hitting both of his free throw attempts. Pratt got to the line to score his points, going 6-for-6 from the charity stripe.
As a team, ASU committed just 12 turnovers, while forcing 20 from the Texans and scoring 21 points off those turnovers.
Although the Rams led nearly the entire game, Tarleton opened up the scoring on a pair of free throws from Romond Jenkins. The Texans would get up 6-2, but after an ASU timeout, the Rams tied the game back up and then took the lead on a three-pointer from Pratt with 12:24 left in the first half.
The Rams pushed the lead out to 8 with under 10 minutes to play in the opening half on a jumper in the lane from Williams, but the Texans kept the gap small. ASU pushed the gap to double-digits for the first time with 4:27 left before the break on a three-pointer from Chase Riley and would hold their largest lead of the game at 12 points with just over two minutes remaining.
Tarleton State closed out the half on a 9-2, but the Rams had a five-point lead heading into the locker room.
Four minutes into the second half, TSU cut the lead to just two on a three-pointer from Ridell Camidge. The Rams responded by getting the ball inside to Williams, who had back-to-back dunks to push the lead back out to six.
The Ram lead was pushed all the way back out to 12 again with just over nine minutes remaining when King hit back-to-back three-pointers. The Texans responded with a 9-0 run that shrunk the gap back to three with just five minutes remaining.
TSU finally tied the game back up with 1:55 left to play on a three-pointer by Nosa Ebomwonyi. Foster took the ball back down the floor and got it inside for a dunk from Thomas Tshikaya to retake the lead, but a layup from Romond Jenkins would send the game into overtime.
Foster was forced to sit out the extra period after reaching the five-foul limit with under a minute to play in regulation, but the Rams held on for the 85-82 win.
The Rams will now advance to the semifinals now, taking on the winner of the game between West Texas A&M and Texas A&M-Kingsville at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.
