SAN ANGELO – The Angelo State men's basketball team move into the New Year as it resumes it Lone Star Conference schedule with road match-ups against Tarleton State and Texas A&M – Commerce.
Coming off its last home win over McMurry, the Rams will enter the post break game with a 10-2, 2-1 LSC overall record. Angelo State will seek to continue to build off its last conference win over Cameron. ASU is currently averaging 85.6 points per game as the Rams are hitting 50.4 percent of its shots inside the arch and 40 percent from long range. Defensively, the team has improved to 38.8 boards per game and is forcing an average of 15.9 turnovers.
The team will start its road tour with the Texans on Thursday, January 4 at 7:30 p.m. The Rams completed last season as it sent the Texans packing from the Lone Star Conference Tournament in the first round. In this match –up, the Rams will be looking to take the first game in Stephenville since February of 2001. TSU will be carrying a 7-5, 3-1 LSC record into the game, with its game resulting in a 64-51 home loss to No. 2 Queen's (N.C.). In conference play, Tarleton last downed Eastern New Mexico by a single point (68-67) on December 9.
The Rams will then continue its weekend trip on Saturday, January 5 with a game in Commerce, Texas at 4 p.m. against Texas A&M – Commerce, which is currently undefeated in LSC play. The Lions (11-1, 4-0 LSC) will first see Texas A&M – Kingsville on Thursday before taking on ASU. Angelo State split last year's series with the Lions as each team took a road game. TAMUC also made the trip earlier this season to Lubbock for the ASU Thanksgiving Day Tournament where, Like the Rams, it downed both Lubbock Christian and Central Baptist.
Ja'Michael Brown and Brandon Williams have continued to head Angelo State on the court. Brown, who is averaging a team high 4.8 assists per game, is averaging 14.3 points per game. The Junior guard has headed the team in assists for the majority of the season. Defensively he has tallied a team second 16 steals on the season. Williams continues to play a major role on the defensive as he grabs an average of 6.3 rebounds per game. The Houston native has also recorded a team leading 21 blocks thus far, while pocketing 11 steals as well. Offensively, he is second on the team with 12.9 points per game.
Will Adler, James Kirksey, Antonio Singleton and Daron Mims have all made major contributions to the Rams offense. Adler continues to lead the squad with 3-balls made (29) this season as he is hitting 42 percent of his long-range shots. Overall, the junior is averaging 10.7 points per game and is third on the team with 84.6 percent of his free throws being made.
Kirksey is third on the list with 11.3 points per game as he is hitting 55.9 percent of his shots inside the arch. The Pennsylvania native has also shared the rock with a team second 37 assists. Continuing to aid the defense, he leads the team with 19 stolen balls. Singleton has been the most efficient shooter from deep with a team leading 53.6 percent of his long-range shots. From the charity stripe, he is shooting an ASU third 84.8 percent. He has also passed the ball around well with a squad third 24 assists. Rounding out the group, Mims has also been a player averaging 9.8 points per game and is hitting 56.3 percent from in the paint and 69 percent from the free throw line.
Also coming off the bench will be Ran Tut, DeVaughn Jenkins and Kiair Crouch. Tut is currently fourth on the team pulling down an average of 3.6 boards per game. He has also added 5.8 points per contest. Jenkins sits just ahead of Tut with 3.9 boards per game and has sank 4.7 balls per game this season. Crouch, who has finally returned the court, recently dropped a team second 14 points against McMurry.
Both of these games can be heard on 1260AM KKSA with Jeremy Bryant on the call.
