CANYON, Texas -- Midwestern State simply got the job done Wednesday night in a very difficult place to play.
 
The Mustangs built a 14-point lead in the second half then held off nemesis West Texas A&M for a 58-55 Lone Star Conference win at the First United Bank Center.
 
It was just the second win for MSU at the FUBC and first since taking a 78-71 in its first game at the facility in 2003. The win was just the fourth in 26 tries all time for the program in Canyon.
 
"This is huge for us and huge for our program," MSU coach Noel Johnson said. "This was a great atmosphere tonight. I'm proud of the kids and we just fought hard."
 
The victory was also the 10th straight for the Mustangs who improved to 17-3 on the season and maintained their half-game lead at the top of the Lone Star Conference standings at 12-2.
 
Junior guard Kirsti Degelia dropped in a team-high 16 points on 6-of-17 shooting including a pair of 3-pointers while sophomore forward Andrea Carter (12 points, 7 rebounds) and sophomore guard Shatoia Gober (10 points, 9 rebounds) also tallied double figures.
 
MSU used a 10-1 run to open the second half to extend a one-point halftime lead to a 38-29 edge when Kirsti Degelia hit a 15-foot jumper with 14:58 to play.
 
The game took an intense turn at the 11:55 mark when West Texas A&M's Chotiquah White was called for a flagrant foul for hitting MSU's Skyler Warrick with an elbow.
 
The call resulted in a bench technical for WT allowing Lisa Hampton to connect on 3-of-4 shots from the charity stripe to give the Mustangs a 46-34 advantage with 11:55 to go.
 
MSU extended the lead to 14 points at 52-38 when Degelia hit a cutting Taylor Dowd in transition with 9:10 to play.
 
But West Texas A&M rallied with an 11-1 run to pull within 53-49 on Casey Land's 3-pointer from the corner with 5:37 to play.
 
"We tried to give the lead away at the end of the game," Johnson said. "We just made some bonehead mistakes we don't normally make. Sometimes you have to have a little luck to pull out a win sometimes."
 
Devin Griffin paced WT with 19 points, six rebounds and four steals as the Lady Buffs fell to 12-11 on the season and to 8-6 in LSC play. White finished with a double double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
 
Midwestern State plays host to Eastern New Mexico Saturday afternoon at D.L. Ligon Coliseum. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m.