CANYON, Texas -- Midwestern State had every chance to not only put West Texas A&M away, but to also clinch an outright Lone Star Conference championship Saturday night at Buffalo Stadium.

But the Mustangs fumbled it all away to give the Buffaloes enough momentum to come away with a 15-12 upset win.

Still, all was not lost for the Mustangs. MSU will get a second chance to claim an outright title with a win next week after Angelo State defeated Texas A&M-Commerce -- 30-3 -- Saturday night in San Angelo. The Mustangs can finish 6-1 in league play with both Angelo State and Texas A&M-Commerce taking two LSC losses.

Midwestern State takes on UT Permian Basin Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.

The Mustangs were in total control at halftime with a 12-0 lead, but turnovers proved more than costly in the third quarter.

MSU punt return Tre Owens bumped into a teammate and fumbled the ball back to West Texas A&M which led to the Buffs' first score of the game.

"It was a critical mistake by us," MSU coach Bill Maskill said. "We work on that twice a week. You can't shoot yourself in the foot and win a football game. We played just half of a game tonight."

Four plays later, WT's Isaiah Smallwood burst up the middle for a 22-yard scoring run to narrow Midwestern State's lead to 12-7.

Later in the third quarter, the Mustangs let another opportunity slip away when Dillon Sterling-Cole fumbled going into the end zone.

"I think we score there. We should score. There's no doubt. You beat yourself," Maskill said. "The ball was in the end zone and we let them go 99 yards and score."

West Texas A&M ate up 5:08 of clock time covering 99 yards in 11 plays scoring on quarterback Nick Gerber 6-yard run around the right end. Gerber's two-point conversion pass to Noah Bogardus pushed WT's first lead of the game to 15-12.

"If we just get our butts kicked and don't play hard. That's one thing," Maskill said. "We were going to go up by 11 there."

Midwestern State nearly returned the favor in the fourth quarter when Lance Hardman intercepted Gerber in the end zone with 2:15 to play.

The Mustangs drove the ball to WT's 39-yard line before Sterling-Cole's pass on fourth down was intercepted by Tobias Harris to end the game.

Midwestern State struck first in the second quarter as Dillon-Cole hit freshman Jayden Moore for a 32-yard gain on a flea flicker to the West Texas A&M 6-yard line. 

A play later, Sterling-Cole found Kylan Harrison for a 6-yard touchdown connection to give MSU a 7-0 lead. It was Harrison's 20th career touchdown reception matching former All American Andy Tanner, who also had 20 from 2006-2009.

Justin Jones broke through to block a punt into West Texas A&M's end zone for a safety to push the advantage to 9-0 with 5:13 to play in the first half.

Ritse Vaes tacked on a 25-yard field goal to push the advantage to 12-0.

The Midwestern State defense recorded 12 tackles for loss and five quarterback sacks led by junior linebacker Justin Guillory, who made eight tackles with two sacks and three stops for loss.

Senior defensive Jaylon Abdul-Karim also made eight tackles to go along with 2.5 stops for loss and a sack. Konner Jones-Searcy and Khristian Lee also registered sacks for the Mustangs.

Sterling-Cole connected on 26-of-45 passes for 256 yards with a touchdown and added 39 yards on seven carries.

Freshman Jalen March also rushed for 39 yards on 10 carries, while Harrison paced the receiving corps with eight receptions for 64 yards.