MUSKOGEE, OK: The 11th ranked Texas Wesleyan University men's basketball team (12-4, 3-2 SAC) scored its second consecutive blowout victory with an 89-53 Sooner Athletic Conference win at Bacone College (1-14, 0-4 SAC) on Thursday.
The Warriors kept things close in the early going. The Rams led 28-26 before outscoring Bacone 11-2 in the final three minutes of the opening half to lead 39-28 at the intermission.
The second half was all Texas Wesleyan. The lead swelled to 20 points (55-35) with a three-point play from
Sam Akano with 15 minutes to play. In the final nine and half minutes the Rams left no doubt by outscoring the Warriors 21-7 and cruising to the 89-53 win.
For the game, Texas Wesleyan shot 48.6% from the field and 46.7% from long range while holding Bacone to 25.7% from the floor and 26.9% from beyond the arc. The Rams helped themselves at the free throw line where they hit 14-of-16 (87.5%) and Bacone converted just10-of-16 (62.5%) The Rams also crushed the Warriors on the glass 47-25.
Everyone got in on the act as six Rams reached double-figures in scoring including double-doubles from
Chris Gracela (14 points, 11 rebounds) and
Trevon Jeffery (11 points, 10 rebounds).
Sam Akano came off the bench to lead all scorers with 18 points and 6 rebounds.
Jerell Ellis finished with 13 points.
Dion Rogers added 12 points, and
Doug Compton scored a career-high 11 points.
Bacone was led by Evan Stewart's 14 points, while Brandon Chatman was the only other Warrior in double-figures with 13 points.
The Rams are back in action on Saturday, when they travel to Siloam Springs, AR, to take on John Brown University (9-8, 2-3 SAC). That game is schedule for a 3:00 p.m. start.
Ramblings
- Texas Wesleyan has taken 7 in a row against Bacone and leads the all-time series 18-8.
- John Brown has won 3 in a row against Texas Wesleyan to lead the all-time series 3-1.
- Thursday's game marked Gracela's 5th double-double and Jeffery's 2nd double-double of the season. Gracela is tied for the lead in the SAC in that category with Emmanuel Adoyi of SAGU.
- The Rams have won two games this week (at Paul Quinn and at Bacone) by an average of 37 points. For the season, they have outscored their opponents by an average of 12.5 points per game.
