Winning 30 games in a season obviously takes an overall team effort.
So it was fitting that West Texas A&M got an all-around effort from many players en route to its 30th win of the year as the Buffaloes moved into the LSC Championship finals after an 83-74 win over Tarleton State at Comerica Center.
With LSC Player of the Year Ryan Quaid held to just four points before eventually fouling out, the Buffs had four more players in double figures, led by LSC Freshman of the Year Qua Grant, who scored 26 points with seven rebounds. Brandon Hall had 22 points and six assists, while Joel Murray and Eric Mosley each scored 12. Grant, Hall and and Mosely each hit four 3-pointers as the Buffaloes were lethal beyond the arc, drilling 16 triples.
But none of those 3-pointers occurred in the final nine minutes. To put away the Texans, who had trimmed a once 15-point lead down to five with 4:42, the Buffaloes drove to the basket and picked up three different three-point plays, including two from Grant, who picked up the scoring slack for Quaid, who was plagued by foul trouble most of the game and made just 2 of 8 shots from the floor.
That was a reverse from Thursday’s quarterfinal game against Cameron when Quaid had 15 points and 12 rebounds and Grant scored only six.
But good teams figure out how to pick each other up, which is why the Buffs are not only 30-3 and winners of 14 straight games, but moving on Sunday to face Texas A&M-Commerce in the LSC Championship final round. Tipoff will be 1 p.m. at Comerica Center.
The season comes to an end for Tarleton State, which finishes the year at 21-10. The Texans were not in the Top 10 regional rankings last week.
The Texans, playing without LSC Defensive Player of the Year Josh Hawley, got 24 points from Randall Broddie, who was the hero of Thursday’s quarterfinal win over Eastern New Mexico. Sam Marshall scored 17 points and had seven rebounds.
West Texas A&M Notes:
- West Texas A&M extended its conference lead with 36 wins in the LSC Championship, improving to 36-19. The Buffaloes are currently tied with MSU for the most tournament titles with seven.
- The win sends WT into LSC Championship final game for the 13th time. The Buffs are 7-5 and 1-1 in games against Texas A&M-Commerce.
- Entering the game, WTAMU led LSC in 3-point made per game at 10.0. After hitting 10 on Thursday, the Buffs made 16 of 27 attempts from 3-point land.
- The Buffaloes had a chance to match the LSC Championship single-game record for 3-pointers. In 1997, Tarleton State hit 18 vs. Central Oklahoma.
- West Texas A&M had 16 made 3-pointers at the 9:00 mark in the game and was closing in on the LSC Championship record of 18 made by Tarleton State in 1997. However, the Buffs never hit another 3-pointer the rest of the game.
- WT nearly matched its season-high of 17 3-pointers made this season, including once against Tarleton State in January.
- With three more boards, Ryan Quaid is now just 37 rebounds away from becoming the first Buffs player to record 1,000 career rebounds.
- WT matched its season-low with just 24 rebounds. The other outing with just 24 boards also occurred at Tarleton State in February.
Tarleton State Notes:
- The Texans fell short of claiming their first LSC Championship title since 2014, when they won consecutive championships in Allen, Texas.
- Tarleton State is now 30-18 all-time in LSC Championship play.
- Randall Broddie had a season-high 24 points. Two of this three-highest scoring games this year have occurred in the LSC Championship at Frisco. Broddie hit the game-winning basket against ENMU on Thursday with 21 points.
- Sam Marshall’s previous season-high was 10 points before finishing with 17 and seven rebounds against the Buffaloes.
- After making eight straight trips to the NCAA Tournament, the Texans are now going to miss the field for the second straight year.