VIDEO: Angelo State Basketball resumes conference play versus Texas A&M-Kingsville

SAN ANGELO, Texas (Concho Valley Homepage) — The Rams and Rambelles stay home for a midweek matchup versus Texas A&M-Kingsville.

The Angelo State Rams and Rambelles are set to host Lone Star Conference rival Texas A&M-Kingsville in back-to-back games. Before the matchups tip off on Wednesday night, both teams have lots to build on following last week’s performances.

Head coach Alesha Ellis and the Rambelles split their home series last week, losing to UT Permian Basin and defeating UT Dallas. The biggest difference in the second game revolves around ball distribution. Four different Rambelles reached double figures in the same game, led by Taylor Grona and Majik Esquivel with 16 and 14 points, respectively. The key going forward is continued ball distribution along with primary leadership, especially among the two young athletes.

“[Grona and Esquivel] are some of the best competitors that I’ve ever coached,” Ellis said. “Taylor has done such a great job and so has Majik. They’re only sophomores this year, so they’re pretty young. They come to practice every day willing to get better, and they’re the ones asking how to get better.”

On the Rams’ side, the injury bug continues. Limited player availability is a disadvantage anytime, but the Rams refuse to go down without a fight. Angelo State comes off a win over UT Permian Basin and loss to UT Dallas. The biggest difference in those games was UT Dallas’ zone defense displayed in the second half, something head coach Vinay Patel’s squad wasn’t previously accustomed to.

“We just have not seen a ton of zone this year, [so it was] probably smart on [UT Dallas’] part to zone us,” Patel said. “Some of our top three-point shooters have been out with injury, but it’s the first time that we’ve seen a predominant zone for an entire half. I thought it became contagious when we started missing shots. We spent the weekend working on our zone attack, making sure we’re ready if we see it again and try to figure some different things out.”

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