Box Score CANYON, TEXAS – A Lyn'Dale Brown (San Antonio/Judson HS) put back layup with 1.7 seconds remaining provided the margin of victory for the University of the Incarnate Word men's basketball team on the road at Lone Star Conference rival West Texas A&M on Thursday night.  The Cardinals (13-10, 9-6) won, 69-67 to snap a four game losing streak. (Box Score)

The Cardinals and Buffs (14-9, 6-9) played a tightly contested game that featured nine ties and seven lead changes.  In the final few minutes the teams went back-and-forth.  Brown tied the game with 3:19 remaining on a pair of free throws.  Donald Sims followed with a layup to give the lead back to WT.  The Cards tied the game at 64-64 on a fast break layup by Brown after a steal by Denzel Livingston (Houston/Waltrip HS).

The Cardinals took the lead on a free throw by Dionelle Rucker (San Antonio/New Life Christian Academy) with 1:39 to play.  Kennon Washington of West Texas and Rucker traded baskets over the next 41 second.  Washington had a chance to give WT the lead with 23.5 seconds remaining, but made only 1-of-2 from the foul line.  That led to the final sequence where Mitchell Badillo (Houston/Cy-Falls HS) missed a driving layup, but it was grabbed by Brown who laid it in for the win.

The Cardinals shot 52.0 percent from the field, made 4-of-10 from three-point range and were 13-of-19 at the foul line.  Rucker led the team with 20 points in the first half en route to a career high 30 points on 11-of-16 shooting from the field and an 8-for-10 performance from the foul line.  He added six rebounds and five steals.  Badillo added 10 points, four rebounds and four assists off the bench while Brown finished with 10 points, eight rebounds and four assists.  They had 28 rebounds and 17 assists in the game.

The Buffalos shot 48.1 percent from the field, made 4-of-13 from three-point range and were 13-of-21 from the foul line.  Washington led the team with 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field while Sims had 18 points and nine rebounds.  Tez Dumars added 10 points off the bench.

The Cardinals are back in action on Saturday at Eastern New Mexico at 5 p.m.
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