SAN ANGELO – The Angelo State men's basketball team will continue its conference schedule as it welcomes Texas A&M – Commerce and Tarleton State this week.
With an overall record of 16-6 and a LSC record of 7-5, the Rams currently sit in the middle of the pack at fifth in the conference. The Rams will be seeking to bounce back with a pair of wins after falling to Midwestern State on the road this past week. ASU is currently averaging 84.7 points per game and is holding the opposition to 74.2 points per game. As a team, Angelo State it hitting .483 from short and .686 from the stripe, while to defense is grabbing 38.9 boards per game.
Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. the Rams will get things started with TAMUC, who will also be seeking to bounce back from a lost in Portales to Eastern New Mexico. The Lions will enter the Stephens Arena sitting third in the conference with a record of 17-5, 9-4 LSC. In the last matchup between the two schools, ASU fell on the road, 84-73.
ASU will then continue its week with Tarleton State on Saturday at 4 p.m., as the Texans will be coming off a Thursday matchup in Kingsville, Texas with the Javelinas. Prior to its Thursday game, TSU is just ahead of the Rams sitting fourth in the LSC standings with a 13-9, 8-5 LSC record. Tarleton State completed last week with a road win against Western New Mexico. The Last meeting between the Rams and Texans resulted in a game winning shot by ASU senior captain, Brandon Williams.
Ja'Michael Brown leads the team in scoring average with 13.5 points per game. The point guard recently recorded his sixth game with at least 20 points as he dropped 25 in ASU's matchup with Midwestern State this past week. Brown also averaged over 50 percent from both inside and outside of the arch, while going a perfect 8-8 from the charity stripe for the week. With 77 assists on the year, he currently co-leads the Rams in ball distribution.
The Rams will also look to team leader, Brandon Williams, who slightly trails Brown with 11.7 points per game. This past week, the senior continued to lead the Rams defensive efforts this week as he pulled down a squad most 18 boards, which averaged him nine per game for the week. The big man also led ASU with four stolen balls, as well as added a pair of blocks to remain on top of the team's list in the category with 32. Offensively, he hit 86.7 percent of his sort range shots on his way to a 13.5 points per game average for the week.
Forward Will Adler continues to lead the way from behind the arc, shooting .462 with 60 made shots from downtown on the year. The Kansas native averages 10.8 points per game and is one of four players on the team averaging more than 10 per contest.
James Kirksey is the fourth and final Ram averaging double figure points thus far with 11.2 points per game on the season. Kirksey has been a consistent contributor in a number of other areas as well, co-leading the team in assists (77) and steals (35). He has also grabbed a squad second 5.8 boards per game.
A well-balanced offensive attack from Angelo State includes three other options which are all averaging just below 10 points per game in Antonio Singleton, Daron Mims and Kiair Crouch. Singleton enters the week averaging nine points per game. He has been the team's most proficient free throw shooter as he is marking .841 of his shots from the line. Mims sits just ahead dropping in 9.7 points per game and Crouch follows Singleton with an average of 7.5 points per game. Crouch maintains his No. 2 spot on the team from behind the arc, sinking a total of 26 three-ball on the season.
The Rams bench has also provided strong support for the team with contributions from Davion Cole-Johnson, Ran Tut and William Tchiengang. Cole-Johnson averages 7.2 points per game while Tut is second on the team in the blocks category with 16 and marked his first double-double of the season last week. Tchiengang rounds out the group with over 40 points and 30 boards on the season.
