CANYON, Texas – The Angelo State men's basketball team came up against a tough Buff's on the road, falling to fifth-ranked West Texas A&M 102-81 at First United Bank Center on Thursday night.
 
With the loss, the Rams move to 5-7 overall, 4-7 in the Lone Star Conference while the Buffs improve to 6-1, 4-1 LSC.
 
The Rams opened the first half with some success from three-point range as Sam Baker, Salisu Yahaya, and Paul Williams all hit consecutive threes to give ASU an early 9-2 advantage. The Buffs answered back through, using an 11-2 run to take their first lead of the game at 13-11 with 14 minutes to go in the period.
 
West Texas shot 62 percent from the field in the game, including a 60 percent mark from three-point range, hitting 21-of-35 from deep. Angelo State shot 42 percent while continuing to find success getting to the free-throw line, shooting 15-of-19 from the stripe.
 
WT closed out the first half with a seven-point run, taking a 48-34 lead into the halftime break.
 
Baker led the Rams offensively, hitting 6-of-12 from three to finish the night with 20 points. Williams adding 16 points with six assists and Burone Edwards tallied 12 points while collecting a team-high nine rebounds. Angelo State did win the rebounding advantage, collecting 35 rebounds to 33, totaling 12 offensive boards.
 
The Buffs continued to find an answer from beyond the arc, hitting 12 more threes in the second half to keep the lead in their favor. Joel Murray led WT with 25 points while Qua Grant added 22 points.
 
Angelo State returns home for the second game of the series against West Texas as the Rams host the Buffs on Saturday with tip-off set for 5:30 p.m.