THE RUNDOWN
STEPHENVILLE, Texas -- Devante Pullum and Brandon Neel delivered superb scoring halves for Midwestern State Saturday afternoon at Wisdom Gym.
 
Pullum was perfect in the first half going 7-for-7 with five 3-pointers, while Neel scored 19 of his game-high 27 points in the second half.
 
It just wasn't enough as the Mustangs fell to Tarleton State 82-75 to go to 6-14 on the season and 3-8 in Lone Star Conference play.
 
"We had a couple-minute stretch where we didn't guard as well," MSU coach Nelson Haggerty said. "They shot the ball very well. We had a hard time guarding their forwards around basket and we helped down they made the right plays."
 
Tarleton State shot 64 percent from the field in the second half and led by as many as 12 paced Corinthian Ramsey's 23-point effort, but still the Mustangs found a way to make a late push.
 
Neel shot MSU back to within 68-65 on his 3-ball from the left wing with 4:41 to play, but Tarleton would push the advantage back to nine before Midwestern made a final run.
 
Neel drilled his fifth triple of the game before Ola Ayodele hit one of two free throws to get the Mustangs back to within 77-73 with 44 seconds to go. MSU junior Wanaah Bail snagged the rebound on the missed charity toss, but Neel was unable to connect on a 3-pointer from the corner.
 
Tarleton State connected on 5-of-6 free throws over the final 30 seconds to secure the victory and improve to 12-8 and 7-4.
 
"We had our chances. We fought back and were one free throw away from making it a one possession game," Haggerty said. "We are working our tails off but just not the getting the wins."
 
NOTES
- Midwestern State limited the Texans to 39 percent shooting in the opening 20 minutes and held a 36-35 lead at the half.
- The Mustangs connected on a season-high 12 3-pointers. It was the fifth time MSU made at least 10 triples in a game this season.
- Midwestern was held to a season-low eight free throw attempts.
- Senior guard Devante Pullum hit a season-best five 3-pointers while delivering his third 20-point performance of the season.
- Pullum, who finished with 21 points, was a perfect 7-for-7 with five treys in the first half and was held to two points in the second.
- Senior guard Brandon Neel scored at least 20 points for the seventh time this season.
- Neel was 10-of-17 from the field with a campaign-high five 3-pointers to finish with 27 points.
- Junior forward Ola Ayodele scored nine points and grabbed 10 rebounds with four assists. He is averaging 8.3 points and 11 rebounds while making starts in each of MSU's last three games.
 
UP NEXT
Midwestern State steps out of conference play to welcome St. Mary's (Texas) to D.L. Ligon Coliseum Monday night at 6 p.m.