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STEPHENVILLE – The Tarleton Texans rebounded from its first loss of the season on Tuesday to defeat Northeastern State at home on Thursday, 61-47.
The Texans (5-1) used a strong effort in the second half as they shot 50 percent from the floor while holding the RiverHawks to a .356 from the field to help Tarleton win their seventh straight game over NSU.
The Texans won by 14 points Thursday with a total team effort, and the head coach believes they learned from Tuesday's loss.
“It has been a long 48 hours because I still haven't gotten over the loss to UCO on Tuesday,” said Tarleton head coach Lonn Reisman. “There is a lot of difference between a 5-1 and a 4-2 team right now, and I appreciate how our guys rebounded back and handled themselves tonight.
“To have a double-digit lead in this league is unusual, and on Tuesday, we relaxed, and within two minutes, the game was back down to three points,” Reisman said. “We studied that and we had to see what we needed to do put people away, and I feel like we did that tonight.”
Tarleton jumped out to the early lead when Wale Ogunoye hit a turnaround jumper in the paint for the Texans, but Antoine Branch had a three at 17:41 to give the visitors a one-point lead that last until 16:39 when Donta Smith had a bucket for Tarleton . The Texans led 4-3.
After Devon Hills stretched the lead to three with two bonus shots, NSU's Jason Jones had a three followed by a Scott Draughon jumper to give the RiverHawks a 8-6 lead with 13:22 on the clock. However, on the other end of the floor, Chris Harrell had a three for the Texans. Harrell's three gave the Texans a one-point lead before he added to the advantage with a free throw.
Tarleton led by one (13-12) with 7:47 remaining in the first half the Texans went on a 7-0 run with buckets from Devon Hills, Corin Henry and Jeremiah Wilson. The two teams traded buckets before a jumper in the paint by Ogunoye put the home team up by 10 (24-14) with 2:39 left in the first half. At 4:03 was the first time the RiverHawks had to attempt a free throw, and Brent Grice missed them both.
The two teams traded free throws in the last minute as Tarleton took a 28-20 lead into halftime. The Texans forced 12 NSU turnovers in the first half while only converting on 38.5 percent of their shots from the floor. NSU averaged .364 from the field in the first half.
Tarleton stretched its lead to 11 twice before back-to-back threes from the RiverHawks cut the score to 33-28 with 15:47 on the clock. However, Effran Bryant had back-to-back threes for the Texans to make it 39-28 Tarleton.
The two teams traded baskets before Hills put the Texans up by 10 (44-34) with 11:24 left in the contest with an old-fashioned three-point play. Ethan Anderson cut the lead to eight with two free throws Bryant had a jumper, a steal, a three and a pass inside to Jeremy Myers to make it 51-36 Tarleton with 8:27 on the clock.
The teams traded points over the next few minutes before a jumper by Wilson and a three by Hills put the Texans up by 19 with 3:38 on the clock. Tarleton returned the lead to 19 with two free throws from Hills. Nate Jones had two free throws with 36 seconds left before Gracjan Szuba had a three to close the game as Tarleton, 61-47.
Hills had 19 points to lead the Texans while both Bryant and Wilson had 11 points on Thursday. Wilson led the squad with eight boards as Tarleton was outrebounded 32-31.
Tarleton shot .438 from the field (21-48), .545 from the arc (6-11) and .765 from the charity stripe (13-17).
NSU was led by Jason Jones with 19 points and eight rebounds as the RiverHawks averaged .356 from the field (16-45), .348 from the arc (8-23) and .467 from the line (7-15).
The Texans will return to action on Saturday, Dec. 12 at East Central. Tip-off in Ada, Okla. is set for 8 p.m.
