WICHITA FALLS, Texas -- Midwestern State got put to its toughest test of the young season Saturday afternoon at D.L. Ligon Coliseum.
 
A 21-point advantage early in the second half evaporated and the Mustangs faced their first second-half deficit of the season.
 
MSU recovered to score the final eight points of the game to pull a 71-67 win from the fire against Texas A&M International to improve to 4-0 for the first time since the 2016-17 season.
 
"One of my hallmarks is that I want players to figure it out on the floor and communicate. I trusted the work that we put in," MSU coach Justin Leslie said. "I knew we had some tricks up our sleeve at the end to get some buckets."
 
It didn't seem possible the Mustangs would require any late-game heroics early on. The offense hummed to 48 points in the first half as MSU fired in 57 percent of its shots including eight triples to take a 48-34 lead into the break.
 
The lead grew to a game-high 21 points after Terrell Wilson and Jalin Brown connected on consecutive layups to push the advantage to 59-38 with 16:53 to play.
 
Nothing came easy for the Mustangs the remainder of the game.
 
"We talked about committing to our fundamentals," Leslie said. "We completely went away from it on the offensive end. It was a very poor offensive half."
 
The Mustangs shot just 33 percent from the floor in the second half including a meager 1-of-8 from the 3-point arc.
 
Texas A&M International took complete advantage of the break down rattling off 19 straight points during a 7-minute stretch to surge past the Mustangs after Tre Jones and Anthony Scott buried consecutive triples to give TAMIU a 67-63 lead with 4:12 to play.
 
They wouldn't score again.
 
Brown scored six of the final eight points MSU to finish with a game-high 16 points to go along with eight rebounds which were a strength for the Mustangs, once again.
 
Junior Derrick Ogechi grabbed 10 rebounds and was held to five points, while fellow junior Jermane Carter snared six of its eight rebounds on the offensive end of the floor to finish with six points.
 
"Jalin Brown, Derrick Ogechi and Jermane Carter were just so settling on the defensive side of the ball for us tonight, then on the offensive end they just made enough plays for us to stay alive," Leslie said.
 
Sophomore guard Terrell Wilson scored 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting before fouling out in 20 minutes of floor time, while freshman Pierre Sanders delivered 12 points and dished out four assists on 4-of-6 shooting with a pair of 3-pointers.
 
"One of the things that you are always trying to develop as a coach is belief and trust in each other. There's no magic potion for that. You need tough games and need adversity where you are going to come together or fall apart," Leslie said. "I could tell there was a sense of confidence that was still there. We're trying to build winners and they need to have some of these challenges. Not every game is going to be easy."
 
Journee Phillips and Jamyus Jones scored 14 points each to pace Texas A&M International (0-4).
 
Midwestern State returns to the floor on Jan. 2-3 against St. Edward's. Both games are slated to tip off at 5:30 p.m.