WICHITA FALLS, Texas -- Midwestern State rolled to its fifth straight win taking a 74-63 win over West Texas A&M in Lone Star Conference play Wednesday night at D.L. Ligon Coliseum.

The Mustangs improved to 16-6 on the season while moving to 8-2 in league play, but remained a game back of Tarleton State, who claimed a 72-64 win at Angelo State.

The teams exchanged the lead eight times in the opening half before the Mustangs rattled off the final seven points of the opening half keyed by a pair of transition layups by DeJuan Plummer to take a 30-24 lead into intermission.

That's when Eddie D'Haiti took over for MSU.

The senior forward from Orlando hit 7-of-8 shots after halftime accounting for 15 of his game-high 18 points to help the Mustangs push the lead to as many as 19 points down the stretch.

Plummer snapped out of a shooting funk connecting on 6-of-9 shots from the field for 15 points off of the bench. The senior from Detroit was limited to a total of one field and three points over the previous three games.

Junior forward Xavier Blackburn notched his fifth double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds, while senior guard Monzaigo Williams scored 10 points and dished five assists.

Junior forward Tavarion Nix swatted five shots to lead defensive efforts as Midwestern matched season-best shooting night by going 50 percent as team (28-of-56) for the third time season and won the battle on the boards (38-36) for the 12th consecutive game.

Senior guard Drimir Ferguson paced the Buffs with 16 points, eight rebounds and four assists, while junior forward Antjuan Bell had 12 points and 15 rebounds. The Buffs shot 42.2 percent from the field, but stubbled mightily at the charity stripe (5-for-19/26.3 percent).

Midwestern State hits the road to take on Eastern New Mexico Saturday night at Greyhound Arena. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. The Hounds have won seven of their last nine.

West Texas A&M dipped to 10-12 overall and went to 2-8 in LSC play.