SAN ANGELO, Texas - Two questions were emphatically answered Wednesday night at Junell Center/Stephens Arena.

Midwestern State proved its supremacy in the Lone Star Conference South Division by thumping No. 23 Angelo State 90-77 to earn the top seed in next week's LSC Championships in Bartlesville, Okla.

The second? Nolan Richardson proved himself as the best player in the division by dropping a career-high 35 points to help the Mustangs to their 20th win of the season against six losses. MSU also improved to 9-2 in the LSC South by claiming its fourth-straight win.

"Nolan just had an incredible night," MSU coach Jeff Ray said. "A lot of that was in transition and he's really hard to find because he doesn't have the ball. When they did commit to Nolan, we were able to serve it inside and get a few layups."

The Rams (21-5, 8-3) had their four-game winning streak snapped and will fight for the No. 2 seed when they end the regular season at Tarleton State Saturday in Stephenville.

Meanwhile, the Mustangs can clinch its first outright South Division championship since 2000 with a win over Texas A&M-Kingsville Saturday night at D.L. Ligon Coliseum. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. or 25 minutes after the conclusion of the women's game which begins at 6.

Richardson rocked the nets for 21 points in the first half as the Mustangs rolled out to a 23-point lead in the opening stanza before taking a 48-29 advantage into intermission.

The Rams made a late push in the second half fueled by a 9-2 run as Maso Hamilton canned a trey before Lionel Brown hit back-to-back 3-pointers to pull within 74-64.

"They are very athletic, so sometimes when you get a big lead they can just start to let it fly," Ray said. "Those were some guarded and deep 3s. When they make those, you just have to give them credit."

The Mustangs responded, however, as Michael Godwin converted a nice feed from Anthony Moore to kickstart a 10-0 run to put the game away.

It was Richardson's eighth-straight 20-point performance and it was his fifth 30-point outing of the season. It marks the first time an MSU player has tallied at least 20 points in eight-straight games since NAIA All-American Isaac Devore scored 20 points in 10 consecutive games spanning the from the end of the 1973-74 to the beginning of the 1974-75 season.

But he had plenty of help as Craig Green tallied 11 points and grabbed six rebonds. Godwin added 10 points and five rebounds while Earl Rabb finished with 10 points, six rebounds and four assists..

Moore completed a great all-around game off of the bench with eight points, six assists and five rebounds.

Brown hit four 3-pointers to finish with 20 points to lead the way for the Rams.

Since Midwestern State clinched the No. 1 seed, the Mustangs will face the No. 4 seed out of the LSC North on Thursday, March 5 at Bruin Fieldhouse in Bartlesville. Tipoff is slated for 8:30 p.m.