KINGSVILLE, Texas - Craig Green and Chris Hagan combined for seven 3-pointers to lead No. 9 Midwestern State to an 87-74 win over Texas A&M-Kingsville in Lone Star Conference South Division play Wednesday night at Steinke Center.

Green went on a personal 8-0 run to push the Midwestern advantage to 44-30 to start the second half as he hit consecutive treys in the opening minute of the half.

"Craig got us going in the second half," MSU coach Grant McCasland said. "We ran a few set plays were here wasn't the first option. He read it well and hit some shots bang-bang to start the second half. He's not going to miss any of those right now."

The senior guard from Keller finished with a game-high 23 points scoring 18 of those in the second half as the Mustangs led by as many as 18 when Green hit a jumper with 9:56 for a 68-50 lead.

But the Javelinas chipped away in the closing minutes and trailed 80-74 after Naquawn Lee finished a tradition three-point play with 2:35 to play.

"They went 1-on-1 down the stretch and made some tough shots," McCasland said. "They just wouldn't go away. Every time we felt like we had a knockout punch, they threw a few jabs to get back into it."

It was Green who answered with a tough three-point play of his own on the following possession to push the lead back to nine at 83-74.

The Javelinas wouldn't score again.

Senior guard Jason Ebie finished a steal shy of his second-straight quad-5 as he finished with 13 points, seven rebounds, six assists and four steals after he was denied on several obviously solid passes to open shooters in the first half.

"I can't say enough about Craig or Jason tonight," McCasland said. "Jay has been our leader and our point on defense all year. He's a lot of fun to coach and those guys really want to win."

Junior guard Chris Hagan connected on four 3-pointers to finish with 18 points while coming off of the bench for the first time this season.

Texas A&M-Kingsville was paced by Lee, who finished 20 points, while Ryan Wallace scored 12 of his 15 points after halftime.

Midwestern State, which improved to 23-2 on the season and 8-2 in the LSC South, kept pace with Tarleton State for the division lead as the two remain a game in front of Angelo State, which fell to West Texas A&M 85-84  Wednesday night in Canyon.

The Mustangs return to D.L. Ligon Coliseum for the final two games of the regular season as MSU plays host to Abilene Christian on Saturday and Angelo State next Wednesday. Both games tip at 8 p.m.

The Javelinas suffered their third loss in 13 games at Steinke Center to fall to 12-12 and 2-7.