SAN ANGELO – Chris Talkington scored 25 points to help lead the Angelo State men's basketball team to a 95-68 non-conference win over Arlington Baptist College on Sunday at Stephens Arena in the Junell Center.

ASU (2-0) trailed the Patriots 22-21 with nine minutes remaining in the first half before ASU took control and went into halftime with a 47-36 advantage and never looked back. The Rams made 13 of their 26 shots from beyond the arc in the game and outrebounded ABC 48-33.

“We needed to start putting more pressure on them and stop letting them get easy 3-pointers,” ASU junior Byran Hammond said. “Once we cracked that down and had some guys come off the bench with energy, we came out with the win.”

Talkington, who was playing in his first game as a Ram, made three 3-pointers and also went 8-for-8 from the free-throw line. A transfer from Nicholls State, the 25 points is a college career high for him. Hammond led the Rams with six assists and added 10 points, while Dakota Rawls contributed 15 points and grabbed five rebounds.

Zach Jones led ASU with nine rebounds and added 10 points, while Ryan Whitehead nailed two 3-pointers and finished with 10 points.

“I think we're going to be really good offensively,” ASU head coach Fred Rike said. “We're going to have to grind it out defensively in the Lone Star Conference. That's what we have to get better at.”

Johnny Shrake led Arlington Baptist (1-1) with 20 points with Rod Reed adding 13 points and six rebounds.

Angelo State returns to action at 5 p.m. on Friday with a game against the University of Minnesota-Duluth at the St. Mary's Invitational in San Antonio before playing at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday against St. Mary's.