West Texas A&M guard Qua Grant, middle, dribbles through UT Permian Basin defenders during a Lone Star Conference Tournament quarterfinal on Tuesday at the First United Bank Center. [Trevor Fleeman/ Press Pass Sports]
West Texas A&M left no doubt Tuesday would be a good night rolling to a 17-point halftime lead eventually cruising to 72-58 victory over the University of Texas-Permian Basin in Lone Star Conference quarterfinal action in the First United Bank Center.
The No. 2-ranked Buffs (13-2) move into the LSC semifinals facing Dallas Baptist University at 4 p.m. Friday in the First United Bank Center.
WT used the scoring of its outstanding guards as the catalyst for the win.
WT junior guard Qua Grant led all scorers with 20 points on 9-of-19 shooting from the floor and grabbed six rebounds.
Grant was joined in double figures by junior guard JoJo Murray (17 points) and sophomore guard Zack Toussaint (11 on a trio of 3-pointers).
WT coach Tom Brown said he was pleased with the overall effort of his players.
“We played pretty well,” Brown said. “They came out in zone and have some big guys who can move. We aren’t the biggest team in the world but were able to get the ball inside a little bit and got some really good looks.”
UTPB ends its season at 8-12 and saw four players reach double figures led by Trevion Lamar’s 19 points.
UTPB senior Adam Rivera, a star at Amarillo High, ended his career with 12 points and five rebounds. Rivera reached the 600-point mark in scoring last week.
Note 1: Junior guard Murray was named the USBWA national player of the week during the middle of the game. Murray scored a career-high 37 points last Saturday in a loss to Lubbock Christian University.
Note 2: Tuesday night a big upset occurred down in Lubbock where No. 1 seed Lubbock Christian fell to St. Edwards 72-71.
LCU will still host the regional tournament despite the loss as it should be selected to play in the regional. The regional hosts were preselected this year and a school can host a regional without being one of the teams.
Note 3: West Texas and DBU split its games during the season.
West Texas A&M forward Braylyn Dollar makes a layup against Texas A&M-International in a Lone Star Conference Tournament quarterfinal Tuesday at the First United Bank Center. [Trevor Fleeman/ Press Pass Sports]Lady Buffs down Dustdevils
Lexy Hightower and Braylyn Dollar combined for all but 14 of West Texas A&M’s points in a 59-46 win over Texas A&M International in Lone Star Conference women’s quarterfinal action Tuesday night in the First United Bank Center.
The West Texas (15-5) win moves it into the LSC semifinal round Friday facing No. 10 ranked Texas A&M-Commerce at 6:45 p.m. at Lubbock Christian.
Senior guard Hightower, a former Amarillo High star, lit up International for 28 points canning 11-of-21 field goal attempts.
Junior forward Braylyn Dollar, a standout at Lubbock Monterey, was a force inside producing a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.WT methodically built a lead over International the final three quarters after the game was knotted at 14 ending the first quarter.
WT led 26-21 at halftime and outscored International in each of the final two quarters.
International (11-5) placed trio of players in double figure scoring led by Ally Winnen’s 14 points and the strong game of Nicole Heyn (12 points, 13 rebounds).
