WICHITA FALLS, Texas -- Midwestern State hosted East Texas Baptist in a season-opening exhibition at D.L. Ligon Coliseum on Sunday night. The Mustangs were gracious host in the first half and fell behind 39-27 with 3:36 to play in the opening stanza.
By halftime, the Tigers lead was trimmed to five points, 46-41.
Midwestern State opened the second half on a 9-0 run to take the lead and never looked back en route to an 83-67 victory.
Junior guard
John Gaines led five Mustangs in double figures with 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting. Gaines scored 14 points in 12 minutes of playing time during the first half. Gaines scored 10 points in the final 3:16 of the opening half. The Detroit native also had four assists and four rebounds in the victory.
Will Shepherd, a 6-8 junior transfer from Oakland, poured in 17 points, hitting 3-of-4 shots from 3-point range for the Mustangs, who finished 5-of-16 from beyond the arc.
Amaechi Chukwu, who averaged 7.3 points and 4.7 rebounds per game as a redshirt freshman two years ago, returned to the lineup after missing last season due to injury. The sophomore from Denton, Texas, finished with 12 points and seven rebounds in 25 minutes.
Mason Gibson and
Bakari LaStrap both pitched in 11 points and each had five assists for Midwestern State, which shot 45 percent from the field overall. The Mustangs outscored ETBU in the paint, 50-22, and scored 11 fast break points. Midwestern State scored 21 points off 14 turnovers and only turned the ball over six times, leading to 10 points for the Tigers.
LaStrap, a junior transfer from IUPUI, had three of the eight steals for MSU.
Midwestern State outrebounded the Tigers, 44-37.
Austin Lewis, a 6-8 junior transfer from Holy Cross, pulled down 10 boards to lead the Mustangs.
Jayden Williams, the leading scorer for ETBU, scored 10 of his 12 points in the first half and finished with five rebounds for the Tigers.
East Texas Baptist shot 54 percent from the field in the first half, including 7 of 12 from 3-point distance. In the second half, the Tigers were held to 22.6 percent shooting and made just 1-of-6 attempts from beyond the arc over the final 20 minutes.
Midwestern State tips off the regular season at D.L. Ligon Coliseum at 1:30 p.m. on Friday as Colorado State-Pueblo tangles with the Mustangs in the season-opening Conference Challenge.
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--MSUMustangs.com--
