THE RUNDOWN
WICHITA FALLS, Texas – Midwestern State rode a big first half and a hot shooting hand to a 88-70 win over Western New Mexico in Lone Star Conference play Saturday afternoon at D.L. Ligon Coliseum.

The Mustangs connected on a season-best 54-percent clip for the game and jumped out to a 30-9 lead on a Josh Wallace triple at the 5:57 mark of the opening. They would lead by as many as 27 improving to 5-8 overall and 2-4 in league play.

Senior guard JaJuan Starks paced the Mustangs for the third consecutive game and for the ninth time this season finishing with 19 points on 7-of-14 shooting with three 3-pointers, but he was just one of five players to rach double digits for MSU Texas.

Junior guard Josh Wallace recorded another solid performance going for 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting with eight rebounds and seven assists while junior forward Bishop Coulter chipped in 13 points and seven rebounds.

Sophomore newcomer Jerad Evans scored on his first three attempts on his way to an 11-point debut seeing his first action since leading NJCAA tournament qualifying Gillette College in scoring during the 2016-17 season.

Freshman Terrell Wilson needed 17 minutes to net 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting.

Jon-Reese Woodson poured in a game-high 24 points for Western New Mexico which dropped its eight consecutive game to fall to 3-9 and 0-5.
 
GAME NOTES
- Midwestern State improved to 5-2 this season when taking a lead into halftime.
- The Mustangs controlled the edge on the boards (37-34) for the third consecutive game.
- MSU Texas logged a campaign-high 24 assists on 34 made field goals paced by juniors Elijah Lee and Josh Wallace with seven assists each.
- Midwestern State was whistled for a season-high 30 fouls resulting in one disqualification -- JaJuan Starks -- while three others were called for four infractions -- Gilbert Thomas, Elijah Lee and Tayvion Johnson.
- Junior guard Josh Wallace has connected on 21-of-40 shots from the arc over the last eight games (52.5 percent).
- Midwestern has limited its last four opponents to a combined 25.8 percent from the 3-point line (17-of-66).
- Western New Mexico dropped to 1-20 in Lone Star Conference road games since joining the league prior to the 2016-17 season.
 
UP NEXT
Midwestern State and Cameron resume the Red River Rivalry Tuesday night at Aggie Gym in Lawton. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.