WICHITA FALLS, Texas - Midwestern State's Nolan Richardson IV scored eight of his game-high 21 points in the final 1:01 including a fade away shot at the buzzer as the Mustangs overcame an 11-point deficit in the final 3:37 to come away with a 68-66 win over Angelo State Wednesday night at D.L. Ligon Coliseum.

With the win, the Mustangs evened their season record at 12-12 and improved to 4-6 in the Lone Star Conference South Division to keep their postseason hopes alive.

Midwestern State can advance to the LSC Championship Tournament next month in Bartlesville with wins this Saturday over Abilene Christian and next Saturday over Eastern New Mexico - both on the road.

The lone stipulation is the Rams (14-10, 3-6) must lose to Tarleton tate on the last Saturday of the season.

"We have to give our kids a lot of credit," MSU coach Jeff Ray said. "We kept fighting and hanging in there. Those were some big-time shots."

Angelo State led 63-52 after Denell Stephens hitting a driving layup with 3:37 to go.

But the Mustangs solved the Rams' switching defense to close with a 16-3 run over the game's final three minutes.

"They are big and quick and were switching every screen," Ray said. "It mad it difficult for us to get the 3-point looks we're accostumed to."

The Mustangs cut the deficit to 63-59 on a Chris Davis trey with 1:57 to go, but Angelo State guard Jerod Haynes answered with a tradition three-point play to push the Rams' advantage back to seven at 66-59.

That's when Richardson took over.

The junior guard canned 3-pointer to close the Mustangs to four at 1:01, then hit another 3-pointer after Earl Rabb and Michael Godwin corraled consecutive rebounds after Chris Davis missed the back-end of the bonus with 20 seconds remaining.

Richardson's second trey in the final minute knotted the game at 66-66, the after Stephens' turnover he finished the Rams.

Richardson backed down Maso Hamilton and hit a fall-away jumper on the baseline as time expired for the win.

Davis hit finished with 18 points, while Ford added 13 - all in the first half.

Angelo State senior Marcus Hubbard led the Rams with 16 points and nine rebounds, while Stephens notched a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds.