Almost champs
Buffs fall short but make history By LANCE LAHNERT
The Buffs averaged 90 points a game with four underclassmen scoring in double figures in Murray (23.3 ppg), Grant (22.4), 6-0 Jon’il Fugett (12.9) and 5-11 Zach Toussaint (10.0). Murray and Grant were dynamic players able to get to the basket with their quickness as well as score from the outside. Each earned many postseason honors, including the prestigious D2CCA All-America team, first team All-Lone Star Conference and the All-LSC defensive team. WT opened the season rolling off three straight wins before dropping a rare home game to LSC foe Dallas Baptist, 87-78. The loss ended the nation’s longest home winning streak at 45. The Buffs answered that loss by winning nine in a row before dropping a home game to Lubbock Christian, a loss that would deny the Buffs an LSC regular season title. WT was primed for a playoff run when crunch time hit, however, claiming its fourth straight LSC Tournament crown and advancing to the Elite Eight by beating Lubbock Christian on its home court in Lubbock, 101-92, in the regional finals. “We wanted to win the Lone Star Conference title,” Brown said. “But winning four straight LSC tournaments is quite an accomplishment. That’s because it hasn’t been done by
COVID-19. Just looking at the word causing the 2020 worldwide pandemic makes the year one we’d all like to forget. But as we’ve learned, there’s always a bright light in every situation. Despite the mask-wearing, despite canceled games, despite limited crowds, the 2020-21 West Texas A&M men’s basketball team made the most of things, signing their names to the WT history books. Led by a pair of All-America guards in Quay Grant and JoJo Murray and a fantastic finish in the NCAA Division II semifinals, WT reached the national championship game for the first time since basketball began at WT in 1920. The Buffs fell to skilled and talented Northwest Missouri State, 80-54, in the 2020 Division II men’s national title game in Evansville, Indiana. WT finished “The COVID Season” with a 19-3 record, many weeks having its schedule disrupted with opponents failing COVID-19 protocol, and for the majority of the 22 games, started four players who stand 6-0 or shorter. This photo by Denny Simmons of the Evansville Courier and WT coach Tom Brown, who opens Press shows the euphoria of West Texas A&M players after Zach his seventh season with the Buffs this Toussaint nailed a 3-pointer at the buzzer against Lincoln Memoyear owning a gaudy 162-40 record, rial in the Elite Eight semifinals March 25 to send the Buffs to the NCAA Division II national championship game in Evansville, said it was brutal at times dealing with Indiana. The Amarillo Globe-News headline indicates the shot COVID situations last year. won’t be forgotten. But Brown didn’t hesitate when asked what made the Buffs so good. the same players.” “Because of our great size,” Brown joked. “COVID was tough At the Division II Elite Eight in Evansville, Indiana, the Buffs on everybody. I think one tough part was that we couldn’t play would make school history and along the way play an unforgetsome games that maybe we could have played. table game. “We could play big” “You only play 22 games and you make it to the national championship game? I just wish we could have played more games. We had a very good team. I think that team took care of the basketball. And we were really good when we shared it. We were average when we didn’t share it, and that was a couple of our losses at home. “We could play big without being a big team, if that makes sense. And we could get away with it. Now when you play an elite team, and Northwest was an elite team, it catches up with you.” WT played its up-tempo style that Brown brought to the Buffs in 2014, and it worked with 6-0 junior guards Quay and Murray leading the way. 10
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In the national quarterfinals, No. 5 WT handled Daemen 9783 with Murray pouring in 31 points, 24 of those arriving in a dominating first half when WT led 56-32. The national semifinal meeting against No. 13 Lincoln Memorial was a classic with its ending bringing guard Toussaint into the conversation for the greatest shot in the Buffs’ history, along with national fame. WT and Lincoln went toe-to-toe, the entire game good to the last drop. The shot heard around the nation WT trailed 85-84 and was forced to foul with 13 seconds remaining. Lincoln’s Jordan Guest made the first and missed the
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2021-2022 Panhandle-Plains Basketball
