Canyon – The Texas A&M-Kingsville offense went over six minutes without a field goal midway through the second half as West Texas A&M pulled away to a 69-51 victory in a battle of regionally ranked teams. Click here for stats.
Naquawn Lee came off the bench to lead the Javelinas with 12 points while Clyde Johnson added 10.
The loss dropped the Javelinas to 16-9 and 5-5 in the Lone Star Conference South Division while the division leading Buffaloes improved to 19-6 and 9-1. West Texas A&M swept the season series from the Javelinas for a second consecutive season.
The Buffaloes came into the game ranked #5 in the South Central Region while the Javelinas were ranked 10th.
A&M-Kingsville struggled mightily from behind the 3-point line, hitting just 2-of-14 shots. Overall the Hogs didn’t shoot much better, making just over 38 percent of their shots.
The Buffaloes out-rebounded the Javelinas 44-26 and cashed that into 22 second chance points.
The first half was back and forth early on with four ties and three leads changes.
The Javelinas ran out to a 7-2 lead, but the Buffaloes took the lead for good on a jumper by Pierre Barlow with 9:26 left in the half to grab an 18-16 lead.
West Texas A&M closed the half on a 7-2 run over the final minute and a half to grab a 38-30 halftime advantage.
A jumper by freshman Justin Ledet with 12:47 left in the game cut the lead to five, 45-40.
But the Hog offense went cold, unable to make another shot from the field until the 6:31 mark when Stephen Story hit a jumper to cut the West Texas A&M lead to 12, 56-44. A&M-Kingsville missed six consecutive shots during the stretch.
The Javelinas are off this weekend before hosting Angelo State in the final home game of the season Wednesday night .
