Oklahoma Panhandle State University

Box Score Goodwell, Okla.—The Aggie men's basketball team battled to the bitter end in a physical Heartland Conference matchup with Texas A&M-International, who is currently tied for the top spot in the conference ranks.

The 19-9 Dustdevils earned their twelfth Heartland victory Thursday evening on the Aggies' home court, with a close contest that left Panhandle with a 90-81 loss. Fast-paced and energetic throughout, both teams were charged with, a combined, 54 fouls on the night including technicals in each half. The Aggies scored 31 points on free-throws alone, shooting 31 of 43 at the line. Sophomore Jace Kerr added 13 of his 16 points on foul shots, and freshman Jaedon Whitfield put up nine from the line for Panhandle.

Whitfield and Riyadh Asad led the Aggies in scoring with 19 points apiece off the bench; the two totaled five three-pointers on the game, Whitfield with two and Asad three. Tevin Lytes shot well with 17 Aggie points including four of six from the line and one from three-point range. TAMIU's Denzel held the game-high in scoring with 24 points, all from the field. Bunja Yaboe earned the games only double-double on 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Dustdevils.

International played big at the boards hauling down 50 rebounds for the game, 19 offensive and 31 defensive. The Aggies had 30 rebounds with only six on the offensive side; Kerr and Whitfield led with seven and six boards each. Yaboe's 11 boards set the game-high. Asad led the game in assists dishing six for the Aggies.

Keeping a quick pace the Dustdevils totaled ten points on fast breaks and scored 42 in the paint. TAMIU controlled the lead throughout the contest going up 14-0 in the first four minutes of play. At halftime the Aggies trailed 48-34, but moved within eight points of their opponents in the opening minutes of the second half. TAMIU worked their way back up to a 21-point lead (76-55) with five minutes left on the clock. Kerr then added six points in free throws and Asad went two for two beyond the arc to pull the Aggies within ten at the 1:56 mark. Whitfield knocked down a three and two foul shots to narrow the gap to seven points for Panhandle. Jake Regier scored the last three of the game for the Aggies and the Dustdevils took it down court for a dunk shot to end the game.

For the night the Aggies averaged 38.5 percent in shooting and 41.7 percent beyond the arc, at the line they averaged 72.1 percent. Averaging 56.8 percent in first-half shooting, the Dustdevils dropped to 36.1 percent from the field after halftime. Head Coach Jerry Olson was proud of his team's effort saying, "Our kids showed incredible physical and mental toughness tonight. I'm proud they did not give up and competed until the end." Olson called out some key players commenting, "Jaedon (Whitfield) played really well and was very aggressive; Tevin (Lytes) really got us going with his toughness at the boards, and his foul trouble late in the game hurt us. I'm also proud of Jace Kerr's ability to get to the free throw line and how well Riaydh (Asad) played under pressure." Also giving due credit to the energetic crowd, Olson added, "The crowd really kept us going. We had a lot of great energy in the stands from some of our other sports teams and just can't say enough about what that kind of support can do in a game like tonight's."

The Aggies now own a 5-21 season record with one opportunity to add a win in their season finale against St. Mary's on Saturday. The men's team will take on the Rattlers at 3 p.m. following the women's matchup at one and a special senior recognition in between games. Aggie fans can follow along with all the upcoming action with live stats and free streaming video of this week's games brought to you by KKBS in Guymon. View the live video online at kkbs.com and enter for a chance to win $10,000 cash. Live streaming and video coverage links are also available at opsuaggies.com on the basketball schedule pages.