STEPHENVILLE, Texas – The Angelo State men's basketball team inked a 73-71 win over Tarleton State on Thursday night, marking the first time since February 2001 that Rams have taken a game over the Texans in the Wisdom Gym.

Down 71-64 with 3:00 left in the game, Brandon Williams sunk a shot from the charity stripe to get the Rams' rally started. This would be followed by Davion Cole-Johnson and Ja'Michael Brown each dropping in a pair of points, as well as a monster dunk by James Kirksey. Then, with only 12 seconds left in the game, the 9-0 Rams run culminated with a game-winning put-back hook shot from Williams that sent the team rushing the court in celebration.

Improving to 11-2 overall and 3-1 in the Lone Star Conference, ASU was led by Kirksey who dropped in a team high 21 points. Followed by Williams, who scored 11, the two both recorded double-doubles on the night pulling down 10 boards each to head the teams rebounding efforts. Williams, Brown and Kiair Crouch all pocketed a pair of steals each to lead the team's defense against TSU. This assisted the Rams to outscoring the Texans 19-9 in points off turnovers. ASU also outscored Tarleton State in bench points (19-9) points in the paint (46-32) and fast break points (21-17). With the home loss the Texans fall to 7-6, 3-2 LSC. This marks the first time since 1996 that the Tarleton State men's basketball team has accrued five home losses on the season.

"We could not be more proud of this group of resilient guys," commented ASU Head Men's Basketball Coach Cinco Boone. "The team just never quit and kept buying in. They kept coming back to the huddle and asking, "What is next coach?" You just have to be proud of a group like that! We did not play our best basketball, and it was the first time all year long that we had to play against 40 minutes of zone. Tarleton is a good team and we got them to miss some shots there in the second half, where they only shot 29 percent. This road was really good for our team moving forward."

Tarleton State opened up the game with a 7-0 run to take the early lead. The Texans would continue to hold the advantage throughout the entirety of the first half. A layup from the Rams point leader, Kirksey, would get things rolling for Angelo State. This would also jump-start a 7-2 run for the team that saw a 3-ball from Crouch, who also tallied double-digit points for the night.

At the 13:23 mark, Ran Tut would roll in a layup to pull ASU within one with 13-12 on the board. The Texans quickly responded as it increased its lead to 18 (34-16) with 7:57 left in the half. Angelo State remained composed and slowly worked itself back into the game as it cut the TSU lead to six (43-37) with a Kirksey layup heading into the half.

The junior guard would return with another layup to open the second half for ASU. With 17:05 on the game clock, Antonio Singleton stroked a long-range shot to bring the game to an even (48-48) for the first time since the start of the game. Cole-Johnson's follow-up shot from inside the paint gave the Rams its first lead of the game. The lead exchanged hands another five times before the Rams final run at the 3:00 minute mark.

Angelo State continues its road trip with a matchup against No. 18 Texas A&M – Commerce in Commence, Texas. This game is slated for Saturday, January 6 with a 4 p.m. tipoff. The game will be broadcasted live on 1260 KKSA, with the voice of the Rams, Jeremy Bryant, on the call.