Angelo State cruises past Hounds

SAN ANGELO, Texas — Junior guard Maso Hamilton came off the bench for 19 points Saturday night and Angelo State cruised to an 83-49 Lone Star Conference South Division men’s victory over Eastern New Mexico.

Junior forward Denell Stephens added 15 points and nine rebounds for the Rams (15-10, 4-6 South), who scored the game’s first seven points and never trailed. Senior guard Quinn Barfield added 10 points off the bench for Angelo in 18 minutes.

ENMU (6-19, 0-10), playing with only three members of its original roster, got 22 points and eight rebounds from senior guard Justin Redman-Trotter, but simply didn’t have the firepower to stay with the Rams. The Greyhounds committed 27 turnovers and shot 35 percent from the field on 15-of-43, including only 1-of-9 on 3-pointers.

Down 11-3 early, the Hounds mounted a brief comeback, putting together a 9-2 run to pull to 13-12 on a layup by junior guard Marquis Ruffin with 10:41 left in the opening half.

Angelo responded with the next 12 points and 17 of the next 19, going up 30-14 on Barfield’s 3-point play with 5:12 to go in the half.

The Rams led 36-23 at halftime and steadily pulled away from there. Their biggest lead was 35 points, at 82-47 after a 3-pointer by Roger Johnson with less than two minutes to go.

Angelo State shot 43 percent for the game and owned a 40-34 advantage on the backboards. Senior point guard Jerod Haynes had 10 of the Rams’ 22 assists.

ENMU has lost 10 games in a row, all in division play.