West Texas A&M (24-1 overall, 18-0 in Lone Star Conference) continued its grip on the top spot in the nation along with keeping alive a hefty winning streak at 21 having no problem at home beating up on the two Land of Enchantment teams in the Lone Star Conference.
First, it was a dominant performance over Eastern New Mexico on Thursday (Feb. 15) with the Buffs placing five in double figures scoring turning a 16-point halftime lead into a 93-68 rout before 2,113 fans in the First United Bank Center.
Saturday was a different story for the opening 10 minutes as the Buffs found a three-win Western New Mexico team making shots early led by guard Cortaviaus Seales.
But by halftime the Buffs had produced a Zach Toussaint-led 18-4 run over the final five minutes and led comfy at 50-35 settling on a 100-78 win before 1,839 fans at the FUB.
Here’s what you need to know:
West Texas A&M 93, Eastern New Mexico 68
For a team giving the Buffs an-all out scare on Jan. 20 in Portales losing by two points, Eastern New Mexico pretty much was overwhelmed by the Buffs in this one trailing WT 45-29 at halftime.
ENMU (14-9, 10-7) never challenged WT’s lead in the second half with the Buffs putting on display their ability to score from several different players.
Senior guard Zach Toussaint, the all-time WT leader in games played, led the way with 17 points knocking down five 3-pointers.
Seniors Larry Wise and Ryland Holt, along with LSC freshman of the year candidate Kieran Elliott each added 16 points, while freshman Noah Pagotto of Australia made it five Buffs in double figures with 11 points.
Elliott added a team-high 10 rebounds for a double-double.
ENMU was led in scoring by Jahcoree Ealy with 18 points.
West Texas A&M 100, Western New Mexico 78
Once again sharp-shooting Toussaint led the way for WT scoring 27 points burying seven 3-pointers giving 12 made treys in three days.
LSC player of the year candidate Larry Wise joined Toussaint with being a thorn in Western New Mexico’s side scoring 25 points and grabbing eight rebounds.
Freshman Elliott came within a rebound of having back-to-back double-double games as his game continues to mature scoring 13 points and leading the Buffs with nine rebounds.
Western New Mexico (3-20, 1-17) is out of the LSC Tournament picture and came out playing loosy-goosey with nothing to lose.
So with 5:06 to play in the first half Western New Mexico was within 32-31 of WT when Cortaviaus scored a basket, two of his team-high 25 points.
The Buffs answered with the game-clinching 16-4 run over the final 4:49 of the half holding a 15-point lead at half.
Wise opened the run scoring after an offensive rebound, while Toussaint buried a trio of 3-pointers over a 2:09 stretch. Sophomore guard Brock Mishak added one of his trio of 3-pointers during the run.
The Buffs finished with 18 3-pointers with Toussaint and Wise combining for 12 of the 18 made shots from beyond the arc.
Wise explained the 18 threes by saying WT “just took what the best shot was” throughout the game and added “Zach got the hot hand early on and that always helps.”
21 in a row second best all-time
West Texas ran its winning streak to 21 in a row with the win over Western New Mexico.
That’s the second longest streak in Buffs basketball history.
WT has not lost since Nov. 16, an 80-79 defeat to Metro State-Denver in Canyon.
The longest streak in WT history? That would be 26 set during the 2019-2020 season (Covid year) and ending in 2021.
Buffs senior Larry Wise explained the success of this team is because “we are unselfish, we have great depth and we have great coaches. It’s a whole total team effort. Everybody in the locker room is together and it shows on the court.”
The Zach Attack
Fifth-year senior Zach Toussaint scored 44 points and made 12 3-pointers in the wins over ENMU and Western New Mexico.
Two of Toussaint’s 3-pointers against Western New Mexico were well beyond the 22 foot, 1.75 inch line 3-point arc and drew oohs and awws from the WT fans.
Toussaint entered the year having made 300 career 3-pointers and now sits at 360. That 360 puts him second all-time in made 3-pointers, 28 behind all-time Buffs leader David Chavlovich.
Chavlovich is an assistant coach for WT and the all-time WT leader in points scored at 2,520 (the only Buff ever to surpass 2,000 points).
Chavlovich was asked how good a shooter is Zach Toussaint?
“My gosh, Zach is the best shooter I have ever seen outside of the two guys that play over at Golden State,” Chavlovich said. “I mean when you just watch him shoot in practice he doesn’t miss. He already hits the rim. He something amazing to watch, he really is.”
Coach Brown says Buffs thrive on leadership and unselfish play
WT head coach Tom Brown has led the 2023-24 Buffs to several impressive milestones including being ranked No. 1 for the first time in school history, a 21-game winning streak and undefeated mark in the Lone Star Conference.
Brown said senior leadership, depth of the roster and simply day-in and day-out consistency have led to the Buffs success.
“We have some depth and I think we have really good leadership in our three seniors who play a lot in Ryland (Holt), Larry (Wise) and Zach (Toussaint),” Brown said. “Even our senior Cameron Bell who doesn’t get many minutes is a leader for us. He has had minutes in the past and is great kid to have on the team.
“At this time of the year some teams have guys who haven’t played and are complaining about this and that. I don’t see that with us. I think we have a bunch of good kids at the end of the bench who come to practice and work hard and make our other guys have to earn it all the time. It’s guys like Kemper Jones, Cameron Bell, Nick Jett, Mackenzie (Morgan) and Isaac (Ayoubi) and guys that don’t get a lot of minutes. You don’t have to get after them and that helps us out. This team is not selfish … and these guys we have who lead us know how to play along side each other. You can have all the talent in the world but if you don’t know to play the game of basketball it can be really tough. This team is a lot of fun.”
Next Up
The Buffs hit the road for a pair of LSC games starting Thursday in The Alamo City of San Antonio vs. St. Mary’s. Then it’s off to St. Edward’s in Austin on Saturday.
This is the first meeting of the year for WT playing against St. Mary’s and St. Edward’s.
