WICHITA FALLS, Texas -- No. 12-ranked Midwestern State left little doubt Saturday afternoon taking apart NAIA No. 15-ranked Southwestern Assemblies of God 91-60 at D.L. Ligon Coliseum.
"I was a little surprised at the way we were able to jump out in the first half," MSU coach
Nelson Haggerty said. "We had some really good practices this week and came out focused on both ends of the floor."
MSU scored the first 11 points of the game and extended the lead to 16-2 when
Bretson McNeal connected on the first of three triples with 14:14 to go in the opening half.
The Mustangs showed great execution shooting the ball at a 60.6-percent clip from the field in the first half with crisp ball movement resulting in assists on 15 of 20 made field goals before halftime.
Midwestern extended the lead out to 29 points at 53-24 at the half then led by as many as 41 in the second half.
MSU clamped down on the defensive end holding the Lions to 31.1-percent shooting for the game.
Southwestern Assemblies of God had its four-game winning streak snapped to fall to 9-3 on the season. The Lions other losses came against Wiley (Texas), who claimed a win over Division Sam Houston State last week.
McNeal paced the Mustangs with 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting with three 3-pointers, while senior forward
Khapri Alston narrowly missed a double-double going 7-for-8 with 17 points and eight rebounds in 18 minutes.
Senior forward
Trevor Fuller delivered a solid all-around game with nine points, nine rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots in 19 minutes while junior 7-footer
Matt Pollard had a season-high eight points to go along with five rebounds and four blocked shots in nine minutes of court action.
Junior guard
Pat Smith pitched in eight points and dished out five assists with one turnover in 20 minutes at the point.
Midwestern State hits the road to take on Ouachita Baptist (Ark.) Saturday night at Bill Vining Arena in Arkadelphia. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
-- MSUMustangs.com --
