WICHITA FALLS, Texas -- Midwestern State's Pierre Sanders scored 19 points and the Mustangs used a strong finish to close out Texas A&M-Kingsville 72-62 Thursday night at D.L. Ligon Coliseum.

But that wasn't enough to keep MSU alive in the race for the Lone Star Conference Postseason Tournament which will be played next in two weeks at Comerica Center in Frisco.

With two more wins, the best that the Mustangs can do is finish in a three- or four-way tie for eighth place, but would lose out in both tiebreaker scenarios.

Midwestern State did clinch its second winning campaign in the last three season by improving to 15-11.

And Sanders played a key role by hitting six of his seven shots including a season-best three 3-pointers to lead four Mustangs scoring in double figures.

The Hutto native scored seven of those during a 12-4 spurt to break open the game late in the second half.

Texas A&M-Kingsville pulled to within two points after C.J. Smith buried a 3-pointer and big Jason Clark worked for a layup in the paint to trim MSU's advantage to 50-48 with 8:43 to play.

But Sanders hit a pair of mid-range jumpers and followed with his third triple of the night right before Bakari LaStrap polished off the run with a transition layup to build the lead back to double digits at 64-53.

The Mustangs closed out the win by making six consecutive free throws in the final 55 seconds.

Sophomore Mason Gibson, who also buried three treys, joined LaStrap with 14 points each, while Amaechi Chukwu polished his first double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds. It was his third career double-double.

Smith scored 18 points to lead Texas A&M-Kingsville, which fell to 6-19 on the season and to 4-16 in league play.

Midwestern State faces Texas A&M International in its home finale Saturday afternoon at D.L. Ligon Coliseum. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m.
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