ALLEN, Texas - The Angelo State men's basketball team defeated Texas A&M-Kingsville 74-60 in the semifinals of the Lone Star Conference postseason tournament, advancing to the championship game for the third straight season.

The Rams (17-11, 7-11 LSC) came into the tournament as the No. 7 seed, while the Javelinas (18-11, 10-8 LSC) began the weekend as the No. 6 seed. ASU has played in the last two LSC tournament finals, losing to Texas A&M-Commerce in the 2014-15 season and Tarleton State last year. The Rams will face the No. 1 seed UTPB this year.

Angelo State outshot Texas A&M-Kingsville in the matchup, going 42 percent from the field overall including a red-hot 50 percent in the first half while holding the Javelinas to just 37 percent. The Rams led almost the entire game, as the lead changed just one time in the matchup.

Thomas Thsikaya led the way for ASU with his second highest point total of the season at 17. The Frenchman hit five of his six shots from the floor including both of his three-point attempts in the game.

Three other Rams reached the double-digit scoring mark against the Javelinas, including Brandon Williams (14), Prince Foster (13), and Quay King (10). ASU did a large amount of the work from the charity stripe, making 26 of 31 free throw attempts while TAMK took just 10 all game.

The Rams opened the scoring with a jumper from DeVonte' Pratt, followed by a three-pointer from TAMK's Duan Wright that gave the Javelinas their only lead of the game. ASU scored the next six points to go ahead again, and would not give up the lead the rest of the way.

The lead stayed in the single digits for most of the half with the Rams still on top, finally pushing the game to double digits on a Prince Foster layup with 7:33 remaining. The layup came in the middle of a 9-0 run, which eventually saw ASU extend the gap to 15 points. Heading into the locker room, the lead would be almost the exact same, as the Rams were up by 16.

Foster scored the first points of the second half followed by a layup from Tshikaya that extend the lead to its largest of the game at 19 points. The Rams continued to hit shots to keep the gap in the double digits for most of the half, but a three-pointer from Marcus Frazier cut the Javelina deficit to just eight.

ASU responded with an 8-0 run to push the lead back out to 16 and never looked back, closing out the game with a 14-point win.

UTPB was the Lone Star Conference regular season champions, and has beaten Midwestern State and Texas A&M-Commerce on the way to the championship round.

The Rams and Falcons will tip off at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday for the final. The game can be heard locally on 1260 KKSA with Jeremy Bryant on the call.