Box Score

FORT WORTH, TX: The sixth ranked Texas Wesleyan University men’s basketball team (19-2, 12-1 RRAC) took an impressive 85-58 win over Paul Quinn College (14-7, 9-4) at the Sid Richardson Center on Saturday.

 

The Tigers entered the game as one of the hottest teams in the Red River Athletic Conference. Paul Quinn checked in a third in the standings after having won 12 of their last 13 games.

 

The Rams’ defense almost immediately set the tone for the game. Meanwhile they were able to consistently get to the free throw line on the offensive end. Midway through the first half, Texas Wesleyan led 24-13 and continued to steadily pull away, leading 41-26 at the half.

 

Texas Wesleyan held Paul Quinn to just 25% (9-36) shooting from the floor in the first period. On the other end, the Rams hit 17-of-20 at the free throw line.

 

In the second half, Texas Wesleyan continued to execute and led by as many as 28 points (76-48) on their way to the 85-58 win.

 

“This was a gutsy total team performance,” commented head coach Terry Waldrop. “We took care of business and played Ram basketball the way it is supposed to be played. Our conditioning is where it needs to be at this point in the season. This is why we work as hard as we do. On our fourth game in seven days, we played championship level defense tonight. Our bench gave us great minutes tonight. Cody [Waldrop], Sutan [Burris] and Stephon [Mudiay] gave us stability during some very important minutes out there.”

 

For the game, the Rams outshot the Tigers 51.2%-26.9% from the field and 87.8% (36-41) – 69.2% (18-26) at the free throw line. The Rams led 49-31 in rebounding and 25-19 in bench points.

 

Jonathan Blake led the way with a double-double on 19 points and 10 rebounds. Ty Gough came off the bench and posted 10 points and 10 rebounds. Jeremy Smith finished with 18 points and six assists, while Jeremy Mayfield added 18 points and six rebounds to the win.

 

The Tigers were led by Edwin Opoku’s 15 points. Vernon Lewis posted 12 points and 11 rebounds in the loss.

 

The Rams will return to action on Monday, when they travel to Waxahachie, TX, to take on Southwestern Assemblies of God University. That game will be nationally televised via the internet. SAGU TV’s feed will be picked up by Victory Sports Network. The game, scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. start, can be viewed free of charge at http://www.sagu.tv or http://livestream.com/victorysports.