FORT WORTH - While the score doesn't necessarily scream it, Texas Wesleyan Men's Basketball (6-3, 1-0 SAC) didn't have much trouble with the Bacone Warriors (1-4, 0-2 SAC) Thursday night at the Sid Richardson Center, getting past Muskogee's Sooner Athletic Conference representative, 90-72.

Bacone led just once - 13-11 - and once Texas Wesleyan took a lead by more than 10 - 54-42 at the 13:55 mark in the second half on Sam Smith's lay-in, Bacone never managed to cut the deficit to single digits again.

Off made free throws down 84-70 with 2:11 to play, Bacone decided to press, after electing not to press in previous attempts to cut into the deficit. The Rams proved why that was a bad idea turning the Sid into an air show. The Rams broke the press easily, sending the ball up to Diing Lwal Diing for a powerful slam. Diing stole the ball on the next play before the Warriors could manage to make it past half court and threw down a thunderous left-handed jam. While Bacone was rarely ever buried, Diing's explosiveness felt like an exclamation point on a night of hot shooting and steady play.

Diing scored a season-high 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting and got the offense going early, scoring six of the Rams' first nine points. Juwan Jones also dumped 18 making his first five shots, finishing 7-of-9. Julian Torres played 19 minutes off the bench and continued his hot start to the season by scoring 19 points on 9-of-13 shooting. Justin Flakes pitched in 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Overall, TXWES shot a stellar 60 percent from the field, marking the fifth-straight time the Rams have hit at least 50 percent of their shots in victory.

Rob Thomas did it all Thursday, filling the box score with six points, five assists, four steals and three rebounds. Dare Brazeal just missed a double-double with eight points and eight boards. 

The Rams absolutely dominated in the paint 60-18, but Bacone stayed in the game simply because the Warriors for a while just could not stop hitting shots - and difficult ones at that. A runner in the lane as the shot clock expired, fade-away off balanced jumpers and contested three-pointers all kept going in for the Warriors late in the first half, hitting six of their final nine shots before the break. Bacone shot 50 percent in the first frame, but ultimately cooled to a pedestrian 38 percent over the final 20 minutes. 

TORRES' EFFICIENCY
Coming into Thursday, Torres was sixth in the NAIA in field goal percentage, 67.8 percent. Not including the Jarvis Christian game because minutes were not compiled in the official box score, Torres has made 62 shots in 145 minutes, an average of one made shot for every 2.33 minutes on the court. To put that in perspective, LeBron James has made 198 shots in 696 minutes on the floor this season, an average of one made shot per every 3.51 minutes.

WHAT'S NEXT
Texas Wesleyan will host John Brown Saturday at 3 p.m. The Eagles just finished up clobbering Southwest Assemblies of God 93-78, who was undefeated entering the game. John Brown beat Bacone by 23 to begin conference play and is now 6-2.