West Texas A&M guard JoJo Murray goes up for a bucket against UT Permian Basin during a Lone Star Conference matchup Saturday at the First United Bank Center. [Trevor Fleeman/ Press Pass Sports]
West Texas A&M is back to its winning ways at home.
A week after seeing its 45-game home winning streak come to an end No. 7-ranked WT started a new streak running past University of Texas Permian Basin 88-77 in Lone Star Conference before 500 fans at the First United Bank Center.
WT placed four players in double figures led by junior guard JoJo Murray who passed Buff legend Maurice Cheeks on the all-time scoring list.
The 6-0 Murray led the way with a strong all-around game scoring 24 points, adding a team-high six assists and grabbing seven rebounds.
Murray moved his career scoring total to 1,231 points moving past Cheeks and Tez Dumars into eighth place.
WT assistant coach Chris Gove, filling in for Buffs head coach Tom Brown who missed his second game with a COVID-19 positive test, praised Murray for
“It’s just broken record talking about JoJo (and Qua Grant),” Gove said. “They are talented. They are winners. Every accolade JoJo receives he has earned. The time he puts into the gym and his passion for basketball. You see him getting better and better after every game.”
Joining Murray in double figure was guard Zach Toussaint with a career-high 17, Grant with 16 and Jon’ll Fugett scored 10.
UTPB was led by Trevion Lamar’s 33 points.
West Texas, which beat UTPB 108-85 on Thursday on Odessa, improved to 5-1 overall and 3-1 on LSC play. UTPB dropped to 6-5 and 5-5.
Stat of the game
West Texas fired up 42 3-pointers out of the 69 field goal attempts taken Saturday. The Buffs saw seven players combine for the 14 3-pointers.
Player of the game
Of course, JoJo Murray. Anytime you pass an NBA legend and Hall of Famer like Cheeks that’s quite an accomplishment.
Cheeks played at WT in 1970s.
Coach’s quote
“We are happy we won,” Gove said. “We played better but we have a lot we have to clean up. Look anytime you get two wins over a weekend in this conference you are happy.”
Notes
Brown missed the game because of a positive COVID test. He said Saturday he hopes to return for the next Buffs game Friday vs. Texas A&M-Kingsville in Canyon. … WT took a 34-31 lead with 5:53 to play in the first have on a Murray 3-pointer and never trailed again.
Up next
West Texas A&M begins a busy four games in five-day home schedule on Friday hosting Texas A&M-Kingsville. WT will play Kingsville on Saturday then makeup games with St Edwards on Monday and Tuesday.