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Box Score

     FORT WORTH, Texas - Tournament most valuable player Tommy Johnson tallied 28 points, nine rebounds and four assists to lead Texas Wesleyan past Missouri Valley, 93-85, Wednesday evening in the Wings "N" More Wesleyan Classic.

     The Oklahoma City, Okla. native went 9-of-10 from the charity stripe to go along with five treys, not to mention picking up three steals on his way to MVP honors.

     "Any number of guys in this tournament deserve this award, including Tommy," head coach Terry Waldrop said. "He stepped up for us when we needed him to and rebounded the heck out of the ball."

     Joining the senior Johnson on the all-tournament team was fellow teammate Ben Hunt who scored 15 points and led all players with nine assists.

     Missouri Valley (9-5) jumped to an early 12-5 lead at the 14:25 mark of the first half. The Viking run was keyed by Chris Ealim who canned six points along the stretch.

     Texas Wesleyan (7-5) cut the lead to 35-33 at the break on the strength of 11 first-half points from junior Brad Schilder and seven points by junior Khayri McKinney.

     In the second half is where Johnson took over, scoring 25 of his 28 points. The Rams took their first lead of the game when junior Scott Reasoner canned a trey to make the score, 44-42, with 15:45 remaining in the game.

     Texas Wesleyan would increase its lead to 14 points at the 11:31 mark of the half, but the Vikings fought back with a 16-8 run over the next seven minutes to cut the lead to 71-65 with 4:52 remaining in the contest.

     Johnson finished off Missouri Valley making all nine of his free throws in the last five minutes of the game.

     "Both Missouri Valley and Morningside won their respective conferences last season and are good teams," Waldrop said. "They took #9 LSU-Shreveport down to the wire in their other game in this tournament."

     The Rams had five players in double-figures, which included Johnson, Hunt, Reasoner with 16 points, McKinney and Schilder both with 14 points. Senior Vince Williams also had good night, registering four points, three rebounds and two block shots in only 16 minutes of play.

     "Both Scott and Vince played well inside tonight," Waldrop said. "They were a big part of this victory tonight."

     Texas Wesleyan shot 48 percent (29-61) from the floor and 76 percent (25-33) from the charity stripe. The Rams also shot 40 percent (10-25) from the three-point line.

     Missouri Valley shot 43 percent (31-72) from the field and 83 percent (15-18) from the free-throw line. The Vikings also shot 42 percent (8-19) from behind the arc.

     Missouri Valley held a 43-35 rebounding advantage over the Rams, but they turned the ball over 18 times during the game.

     Texas Wesleyan will be back in action Monday when they travel to take on LSU-Shreveport. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. at the Dock.