DENTON, Texas – The Angelo State men's basketball team was eliminated from the Lone Star Conference Championship Tournament by Texas A&M – Commerce, 76-63, on Friday night.
The Rams, who will now await the next regional ranking to see if their future will include a trip to the NCAA South Central Regional Tournament, slid to 18-11 overall with Friday's loss. Juniors, Kiair Crouch (14) and James Kirksey (13), led the ASU offense in points scored for the game. Angelo State's bench outscored Loins, 26-12, while the Rams also lead TAMUC in fastbreak points, 12-4. The Rams hit 41.8 percent from short range, 19 percent from beyond the arch and 61.9 percent from the charity stripe.
Will Adler and Ja'Michael Brown headed the squads defensive efforts as Adler pulled down seven boards and Brown pocketed a trio of steals. This aided in Angelo State recording nine steals to the Lions five. As a team, ASU grabbed 33 boards for the game. With the win, TAMUC improves to 21-7 on the season and will advance to the Semifinal round of the tournament where it will face West Texas A&M.
Angelo State senior, Ran Tut, got things rolling for the Rams as he rolled in a layup for the first points of the game. Followed by a jumper from DeVaughn Jenkins and a follow up layup from Daron Mims, the Rams took an early 6-2 lead with 17:55 left in the half. ASU would hold on to the lead until a 10-2 TAMUC run lead to the Lions jumping out to a 14-8 lead at the 13:47 mark.
With 11:54 left on the clock, Crouch knocked down the Rams fist 3-ball of the game closing the gap to just five points (19-14). However, the Lions would push back increasing its lead to double-digits, until a Kirksey dunk on the fastbreak cut the lead back to eight (32-24) at the 5:49 mark. With 2:32 left before halftime, Davion Cole-Johnson tipped in a Crouch jumper for his first points of the game. Mims would then add a pair of fastbreak layup before the two teams headed into the break with ASU trailing, 37-31.
Mims would continue to cut the Texas A&M – Commerce lead to just four (37-33), as he opened the second half with a pair of free throws. The Rams advance would then be halted by another lengthy Lions run that would again push the TAMUC lead back to double-digits.
Angelo State would then make one final run that brought the Rams to within just a single point (51-50) with 8:29 left in the game. The 15-3 run would see a pair of Adler shots sunk from downtown, as well as big plays from Brown, Crouch and Cole-Johnson. ASU would be unable to maintain its momentum, and TAMUC steadily regained its sizable lead. In the closing seconds of the game, Brown would roll in a layup to close out the scoring for the Rams.
