What a difference a week makes. Last Saturday, Angelo State found themselves down 16 points to last-place Western New Mexico in a game the Rams had to win just to qualify for this weekend’s LSC Championship.
Seven days later, they’re one win away from claiming the tournament title.
Not only did ASU rally to win that game over the Mustangs, but have since won two straight here in Allen, including a decisive 74-60 win over Texas A&M-Kingsville in a semifinal game that pitted the No. 6 and No. 7 seeds.
But as the Rams (17-11) roll into Sunday’s final against the winner of UT Permian Basin and Texas A&M-Commerce, they look anything but a seven seed.
ASU had four players in double figures, led by Thomas Tshikaya who had 17 points along with six rebounds. Brandon Williams had 14, Prince Foster scored 13 with seven boards and Quay King added 10.
The Rams will make their third straight appearance in the LSC Championship final but came up short in both games. In fact, ASU has not won this tournament since 1989 and have just three LSC titles in school history.
ASU needs to win Sunday to advance to the regional tournament.
The Javelinas, who got here by upsetting No. 3 seed West Texas A&M on Friday, were hoping to claim their first LSC Championship since 1996, when current coach Johnny Estelle was a star player for TAMUK.
But it wasn’t mean to be as they couldn’t get enough shots to fall against the Rams, who also won the rebounding edge 40-32.
ASU had a sizeable advantage at the free throw line, hitting 26 of 31 while TAMUK only went to the stripe 10 times, making seven.
Duan Wright paced the Javelinas with 15 points, while Marcus Frazier scored 13 off the bench.
In the first minute of the second half, the Rams pushed their lead up to 19. Despite an 11-3 run by the Javelinas to cut the lead to 11, ASU stayed in control for the entire second half, with the lead never getting below eight points.
The loss likely ends the season for Kingsville, which entered the weekend as the No. 9 seed in the region. But since one of the eight regional spots will go to the winner of the Heartland Conference, it’ll be tough for the Javelinas to get in, especially if the Rams win on Sunday to claim the automatic bid.
Angelo State Notes
- The Rams are looking for their first LSC Championship since 1989. They have won three, all in the 1980s.
- The Rams reached the championship game for the third consecutive year.
- The Rams join the Rambelles in the tournament finals.ASU is the only school in the conference with both their men’s and women’s programs advancing to the title game.
- The seventh seed, ASU looks to become the lowest seed to win the LSC Tournament. The lowest seed ever to win under the current format that began in 2012 was Texas A&M-Commerce, the fourth seed in 2015.
- Four Rams scored in double figures in the game. Thomas Tshikaya led the Rams with 17 points, 10 of which came in the first half. It was his 11th game scoring in double figures on the year.Brandon Williams had 14 points, Prince Foster had 13 points and Quay King had 10 points.
- ASU shot 84 percent from the free throw line and got to the charity stripe 21 more times than the Javelinas.
- Starting at the 12-minute mark of the first half, ASU went on a 14-2 run to build a commanding lead that the Javelinas couldn’t overcome.
- The Rams held the Javelinas scoreless for more than five minutes starting at the 10-minute mark of the first half.
Texas A&M-Kingsville Notes
- Texas A&M-Kingsville exits the LSC tournament with an all-time tourney record of 20-31
- The Javelinas now trail the all-time series against Angelo State, 55-54
- The Rams have knocked TAMUK out of the tournament in three straight seasons
- The Javelinas are 2-1 against ASU this season, with the two wins coming during the regular season
- TAMUK was outrebounded 40-to-32
- Duan Wright totaled a team-high 15 points for his 16th double-digit scoring performance on the season
- Marcus Frazier scored in double-digits for the eighth time on the season with 13 points
- Elliot Taylor grabbed a game-high nine rebounds