The Arkansas State men's basketball team's first extended road trip of the season kept getting better Sunday.
Donte Thomas had 18 points, Devin Carter added 16 and ASU led the final 32 minutes in a 73-67 victory over Tennessee-Chattanooga on Sunday in the final of the Maui Mainland championship at Christl Arena in West Point, N.Y.
Thomas added 10 assists to his scoring total and Carter was 4 for 4 on three-pointers for the Red Wolves (4-1) in beating the Mocs (3-2), who returned four starters from last year's team that reached the NCAA Tournament.
The victory was ASU's third in a row and capped a week that started with Thursday's 78-72 victory at Georgetown and included a 60-57 victory over Army on Saturday. ASU returns home Tuesday to play Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.
"When you get into these kinds of games against teams that won 29 games last year and played in the tournament, you hope to throw the first punch and be aggressive," Coach Grant McCasland said. "Our defense threw punches the whole first half. I just felt like we competed."
ASU used a 13-0 run in the first half to take control. After trailing 10-8, Carter, Thomas and Jahmiah Simmons scored the next nine points and then C.J. Foster added two free throws and Tamas Bruce hit a jumper to go up 21-10 with 9:28 left in the first half.
ASU led 39-25 at halftime and by as much as 53-31 early in the second half. Tennessee-Chattanooga got within 64-54 with 3:16 left, but a Bruce layup with 1:43 left made it 66-54.
ASU shot 54.5 percent while holding Tennessee-Chattanooga to 37.2 percent. Greg Pryor had 24 points and Justin Tuoyo added 22 for the Mocs.
Simmons had 12 points off the bench for the Red Wolves and Bruce added eight.
SOUTHLAND MEN
CENTRAL ARKANSAS 81, ARMY 76
WEST POINT, N.Y. -- Jordan Howard had 21 points, Derreck Brooks added 20 and Central Arkansas earned its first victory of the season Sunday at Christl Arena.
The Bears (1-3) shot 49.1 percent from the floor and made 7 of 14 three-pointers, while winning the final game of the Maui Mainland Invitational.
Mathieu Kamba added 13 points and 9 rebounds for the Bears, while Jeff Lowery had 9 and Albert Christensson had 8. Howard, who made 4 of 7 three-pointers, added 9 rebounds and 6 assists. Brooks had 7 assists and 4 rebounds.
The Bears started the game on a 12-3 run and shot 53.3 percent in the first half while building a 44-37 halftime lead.
Luke Morrison led Army (1-3) with 19 points.
Sports on 11/21/2016