RAMS POUND WILDCATS
December 5, 2005

FORT WORTH, TX: The Texas Wesleyan University men’s basketball team (3-4, 1-1 RRAC) took an impressive 107-72 win over Wiley College (0-2, 0-1) in the Sid Richardson Center on Monday.

The win came just two days after a tough 79-71 loss at home to Jarvis Christian.  “I think that loss embarrassed us,” said Head Coach Terry Waldrop, “the guys responded the way they needed to.”

Texas Wesleyan shot 53% from the floor and 47% from three point range in the first half.  In the second half, they really got rolling and shot a blazing 62% from the floor and 62% from long range.  The Rams also out rebounded the Wildcats 40-23.

After Wiley opened the game on a 7-2 run, the Rams stormed back take the lead at 11-9 and would not trail again.  With 11:53 remaining in the first half, the Rams led 19-18.  They then scored 13 unanswered points to take control at 32-18, and eventually went to the locker room leading 45-33.

In the second half, Ben Hunt came alive, scoring all of his 22 points in that frame.  Nino Etienne also scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half.  The Rams steadily pulled away.  They took their biggest lead of the game in the final minute after an alley-oop dunk from Brandon Livingston and a trey from Muhammad Abdullah brought the score to 107-69.  They would hang on for the 107-72 win.

Hunt’s 22 points led a Rams’ offense that had five players in double figures.  For the second consecutive game, Khayri McKinney put up 20 points.  Etienne added 17, Scott Reasoner 15, and Brad Schilder 13 for Texas Wesleyan.  Wiley’s Michael Smith scored a game-high 26 points.

“We passed the ball well, we took open shots, and we hit them,” Waldrop said.  “We stress that every possession counts, and the kids played the way they needed to tonight.”

The Rams return to action on Tuesday, December 13, when they host #10 LSU-Shreveport.  That game is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m.