FORT WORTH, TX:  The Texas Wesleyan University men’s basketball team (6-6, 3-2 RRAC) returned to the Sid Richardson center on Saturday and took a 71-56 win over Texas A&M International University (3-12, 1-7) in Red River Athletic Conference action.

Texas Wesleyan returned home after a three-game road trip that saw the Rams go 1-2.  TAMIU maxed out the 35-second clock on each possession and frustrated the Rams throughout the first half.  TAMIU shot 59% in the first half and held the Rams to just 29% and took a 30-22 lead at the break.

The Rams settled down and increased the tempo in the second half and shot 58% in the final twenty minutes.  Texas Wesleyan opened the half with a 12-2 run to tie the game at 34 with 15:13 to play.  The Rams continued to push ahead, and took a double-digit advantage when Ben Hunt hit Andrew Bradford for a lay up to bring the score to 51-41.

A lay up from TAMIU’s Nick Ochoa cut the lead to 9 at 56-47, but Khayri McKinney answered with a three-point basket with 3:50 on the clock.  From that point, Texas Wesleyan was able to stretch their lead to as many as 17 en route to the 71-56 win.

“In the second half, we were able to get the tempo where we needed it to be,” said head coach Terry Waldrop.  “To their credit, they played very hard and executed their game plan very well in the first half.  Evan [Patterson] was huge for us and Mo [Abdullah] and Andrew Bradford gave us some solid minutes as well.”

Evan Patterson scored a career-high 25 points and brought down 7 rebounds in the win.  Ben Hunt added 17 points while Khayri McKinney scored 13 for the Rams.  Bo Aluka led the Dust Devils with 20 points and 7 assists.

The Rams return to action on Monday, when they host UT-Permian Basin in RRAC action.  That game is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. and will be preceded by a women’s game.