SAN ANGELO - The Angelo State men's basketball team used a second-half comeback and a late 8-0 run to take down Texas A&M-Kingsville in the Stephens Arena at the Junell Center Tuesday night.
The Rams (14-5, 6-4 LSC) forced the Javelinas into a shot clock violation with two and a half minutes to play in the game and followed the defensive stop with an 8-0 run that Antonio Singleton capped off with a breakaway dunk to seal the ASU win.
Texas A&M-Kingsville grabbed an early lead in the game with a three-pointer a minute in, but ASU quickly closed the gap and tied the game at 9-9 with just under 15 minutes to play in the first half.
The Javelinas jumped back out in front, however, with three straight three-pointers to go up by eight three minutes later. The largest gap of the half came with just over six minutes to play, as TAMUK got ahead by 12.
The Rams then responded with a 7-1 run to close the gap. Overall, ASU closed the final six minutes of the half to go on a 14-6 run that put them down by just four heading into the locker room.
Brandon Williams opened the second half unable to miss in from the post, scoring seven straight points for the Rams and cutting the lead to just one point with 17:31 left to play. Just 30 seconds later, the first ASU player besides Williams scored in the second half as Will Adler drilled a three-pointer and gave the Rams their first lead of the game.
Williams scored a career-high in the game with 22 points and added in 10 rebounds as well for his fourth double-double of the year.
Texas A&M-Kingsville got back out in front with three straight buckets to go up by five, but made shots from James Kirksey and Adler kept ASU within striking distant.
Back-to-back three-pointers from Davion Cole-Johnson and Antonio Singleton brought ASU back within one point and Ran Tut followed it up with a jumper from the right side to put the Rams back out in front 53-52 with just over 10 minutes to go in the game.
Singleton had 10 points in the game including a pair of three-pointers and added in three rebounds as well.
ASU got timely free throws and jumpers from Williams, Kirksey and Cole-Johnson over the next six minutes and were still holding onto a one-point lead heading into the media timeout with just under four minutes to play.
Kirksey was the third and final Ram to finish in double figures against the Javelinas, scoring 12 points with four rebounds and three assists.
With two and a half minutes to play, the Javelinas called a timeout, but ASU held off their attack as Williams blocked a shot and forced TAMUK into a shot clock violation to hold onto the one-point lead.
The 8-0 run followed and helped the Rams take their biggest lead of the game as the clock wound down.
TAMUK hit one more three-pointer after the dunk and ASU got a pair of free throws from Kiair Crouch in the final minute, and the Rams ended the game on top, 74-66.
The Rams will play at home again this week, taking on Dallas Christian College at 4 p.m. on Saturday in the Stephens Arena at the Junell Center.
