Fort Smith, Ark. – The Angelo State men's basketball team bumped their winning streak to five games with a dominant 66-48 victory over UAFS on Thursday night in the Natural State. The Rams improve to 6-1 overall on the season and 3-0 in conference play.

The Rams' defense suffocated a potent Lions offense, holding the hosts to a season-low in points, while the 36 percent shooting mark for the Lions is their second-worst showing of the season.

"I was proud of our defensive effort tonight," head coach Vinay Patel said. "Their (UAFS) offense is complicated to defend, and I thought we did a good job of sticking to and trusting our scouting."

The Rams also held the conference's leading scorer, Payton Brown, to only 17 points on 5-for-17 shooting. Entering the game, Brown was averaging 21.1 points per game.


Despite the Lions scoring the first three points of the contest, the Rams would respond with a trio of three-pointers – the first two coming from Kevon Godwin before Tre Mitchell added the third – as the early 9-2 run gave the Rams a 9-5 lead, one they would hold onto and expand upon throughout the game.

The Rams' largest lead of the evening was 26 points when they were winning 60-34 with 6:10 left in the game.

The Rams shot 43.1 percent from the field and 37.5 percent from the three-point range. They also maintained their record of out-rebounding their opposition in every game this season, winning the battle on the boards 37-28.

"It was also great to see that we had a lot of guys chasing down rebounds to start our transition," said Patel. "We wanted to get out and run in transition after we got stops, and I thought that sparked our offense."

Godwin led all players with 19 points while shooting 7-for-15 from the field. Godwin drained three three-pointers and grabbed a pair of steals.

Mitchell and Fredelin De La Cruz joined Godwin in double figures in scoring. Mitchell scored 13 points in only 18 minutes of action, while De La Cruz scored 11 rebounds and grabbed seven rebounds for the Rams.

"It was great to see our bench come in and keep the energy up on both ends of the floor," said Patel. "We have been playing a few guys heavy minutes, and I was glad to see our minutes spread out a little more tonight."

Devaughn Thomas led the Rams' rebounding effort with nine rebounds, while Reggie Quezada nabbed three of the Rams' nine steals.

The Rams close out their weekend on Saturday afternoon against Oklahoma Christian.

"We have a quick turnaround and play another road game Saturday against an excellent Oklahoma Christian team," said Patel. "Every game in the Lone Star is a beast, and we will work to prepare our guys for another tough game."