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STEPHENVILLE – The Tarleton Texans remained undefeated in Lone Star Conference South Division play as they improved to 4-0 with an 83-63 victory over Abilene Christian in Wisdom Gym.
The Texans improved 16-3 overall as the Wildcats fell to 7-12 and 0-4 in the South thanks to an 23-point effort by the Texans' Devon Hills. He added eight rebounds as Donta Smith had eight points and led all rebounders with 15.
“ACU is a good team that is well-coached,” said head coach Lonn Reisman. “I thought our defense played well in the first half, but we got a little soft there towards the end and let them hit some shots they were not getting for most of the game. We have three big games coming up over the next week and a half, so we are going to have to get healthy.”
Hills was one point shy of his season high of 24 that he scored at Texas A&M-Commerce, but the junior helped Tarleton win its fourth straight game and 11th of the last 12 contests.
“Once I hit the first shot, it felt like it was going to be a good shooting night for me,” Hills said. “Anytime I get going early, I get confidence in my shot. We wanted to start strong because coach told us they are a team that likes to hang around.”
A three by ACU's Eddie Thompson got the game going 31 seconds into the contest but Effran Bryant hit the same on the opposite end to tie the game 55 seconds into the period. Abby Kabba then had a bucket for the visitors before a free by Corin Henry followed by another three by Bryant put Tarleton on top 7-5 with 17:40 on the clock. Jeremiah Wilson added a free throw to make it 8-5 Texans.
ACU tied the score at eight before a Hills three returned the lead to the home team at 13:11. Wilson followed with two free throws as did Wale Ogunoye to put Tarleton ahead 15-8 with just over 12 minutes left in the period. The two teams traded buckets as ACU cut the lead to four on two occasions, but two free throws by Bryant and Smith gave Tarleton a 21-13 advantage.
With 8:01 on the clock, Hills nailed a three from the right side of the floor and was fouled. He converted the rare four-point play with the bonus shot to make it 25-15 Texans. Chris Harrell then had a three for the purple and white followed by a steal which Henry passed to Hills for the fastbreak layup. At 4:49, Warren Webb added a free throw for the Texans before a offensive putback dunk by Wilson gave Tarleton a 36-18 lead with 4:11 on the clock.
Darrion Washington had a jumper at 3:30 before doing the same at 2:10 to lift the lead to 22 before a Dustin Heiman three on the return trip down the floor. With five seconds left in the period, and one on the shot clock, the Texans' Hills nailed a three off a pass from Webb to make it 43-21 at the half.
Hills opened the second half with a putback 30 seconds into the period before threes by Henry and Hills made it a 30-point advantage with 17:05 on the clock (51-21). Kabba traded a free throw with two from Oguonye to stretch the lead to 31 before the two teams traded points to keep the lead around 28.
Tarleton then stretched the lead to 32 (73-41) with 6:56 on the clock when redshirt freshman Charlie Hurd hit the first three of his career. Over the last 6:22, the Wildcats outscored the home team 22-10 thanks to hitting five of their nine threes during that span. Bryant and Devon Agusi had the final two points of the game with one free throw apiece to give the Texans an 83-63 victory.
Also scoring in double figures for Tarleton was Bryant (14) and Smith (10).
The Texans averaged .442 from the floor (23-52), .458 from the arc (11-24) and .667 from the charity stripe (26-39). Tarleton outrebounded the visitors 44-30 and outscored the Wildcats 20-10 in second chance points.
The Wildcats were led by Thompson with 24 points and Giordan Cole with 10 while Dosh Simms had eight rebounds to top the squad.
ACU averaged .380 from the field (19-50), .346 from the arc (9-26) and .640 from the line (16-25).
The Texans will return to action on Saturday, Jan. 30 at Texas A&M-Kingsville. The tip-off in Kingsville is set for 7 p.m.
