KINGSVILLE, TEXAS – A strong second half gave the Texas A&M-Kingsville men’s basketball team a double-digit win over Lone Star Conference rival Angelo State on Wednesday night at Kingsville Hampton Inn Court. The win clinches a conference tournament berth for the Javelinas, their first since the 2008-09 season.

It was the Rams (10-15, 3-12) who came out firing behind LaDonn Huckaby who scored nine points in the first 7:48 of the game to give them a 16-8 lead. The Javelinas (12-14, 7-10) received a jump start from Derryl Nash (Austin/Elgin HS) who scored 11 points off the bench in the first half. The Hogs took a 34-32 lead into the halftime break after Reid Wallace (Spring/Tomball HS) drained a three-pointer right before the buzzer.

In the second half, the Javelinas went to senior Robert Williams (Dallas/Kimball HS) inside. After playing only three minutes in the first half due to foul trouble, he scored 13 points and grabbed five rebounds in the second half. All 13 of those points came in the first 10 minutes of the half. After that, Ryan Layssard (Opelousas, LA/Opelousas HS) took control scoring 13 of his game-high 26 points.

The Javelinas shot 48.2 percent from the field, made 9-of-21 from the three-point line and made 19-of-24 from the free throw line. Layssard went 8-for-14 from the field and made 8-of-10 from the foul line while grabbing six rebounds and dishing out seven assists. Nash finished the game with 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field and a 4-for-6 performance from three-point range. Williams went 6-for-8 from the field and finished the game with 15 points and six rebounds. The Hogs grabbed four more rebounds than the Rams.

The Rams shot 42.9 percent from the field, made 7-of-20 from three-point range and were 22-for-25 from the foul line. Huckaby finished with 20 points and went 6-for-9 from the field and 6-for-6 at the foul line. Keenan Coleman added 18 points and five assists.

The Javelinas are back in action on Sunday at LSC rival Abilene Christian at 3 p.m.
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