RAMS FINISH REGULAR SEASON WITH WIN
February 26, 2007

Box Score

FORT WORTH, TX:  The Texas Wesleyan University men’s basketball team (19-9, 12-6 RRAC) finished the regular season with a 63-57 win over Langston University (12-11, 10-8) on Senior Night.

The Rams honored five seniors prior to the contest.  Craig Wrice, Kelvin Williams, Evan Patterson, Nino Etienne, and CJ Higginbotham played their final game in the Sid Richardson Center.

Langston scored the game’s first six points and led throughout the first half.  The Lions took a 31-24 edge into the break after holding Texas Wesleyan to just 29% shooting in the frame.

The Rams started hot in the second half.  A three from CJ Higginbotham brought them within one at 35-34.  After a Langston bucket, Evan Patterson hit a jumper and CJ Wren scored a layup to give the Rams the lead at 38-37 with thirteen minutes to play.

The game remained tight until the Rams used a 10-3 run in the final five minutes to put the game out of reach at 61-53 with 37 seconds on the clock.

Langston scored with four seconds on the clock and used their last two timeouts before letting the Rams inbound the ball to finish off the 63-57 win.

The Rams shot 56% in the second half and turned the ball over just 10 times in the game.

CJ Higginbotham led all scorers with 19 points.  One game after posting a triple-double, Nino Etienne just missed a double-double with 13 points and nine assists.  Kelvin Williams finished with 14 points.

Langston was led by Reggie Dunn’s 15 points while Ernest Carr finished with 14.

The win sewed up the fourth seed in next week’s Red River Athletic Conference tournament.  The Rams will turn around and play Langston, the fifth seed, again on Thursday in a quarterfinal matchup.  That contest is scheduled for a 3:00 p.m. tip-off.