STEPHENVILLE ? The Tarleton Texans claimed their 25th straight victory over a non-Division II opponent with a 94-19 victory Tuesday to head into the Thanksgiving break 3-0.
The Texans used a 44-0 run to close the first half and open the second half as they truly shut the visitors down and set a new school record fewest points allowed by an opponent.
“This is the deepest bench I have had since I have been here, and tonight they all played well,” said Tarleton head coach Lonn Reisman. “A lot of times when teams get down like Dallas Christian did tonight, they quit playing, but this team played hard, and I have a lot of respect for the way they fought all night long.”
The old record was set when the Texans held National Christian (12/13/02) and Hillsdale Free Will Baptist (12/15/03) to 23 points.
Limar Wilson started the game with a layup just 23 seconds into the contest before Chevis High tied the game for the one and only time. Jeffrey Henfield hit a three for Tarleton at 18:12 to start a 17-2 lead to give the Texans a 19-5 lead with 14:04 on the clock. Scoring in the drive was Terrence Gamble with two free throws and a tip-in, Avery Patterson with a dunk and a three, Eric Williams with a tip-in and Henfield with a three. Christian Lawyer had the only bucket for the Crusaders in the run.
Lawyer then cut the lead to 11 with 13:43 before the Texans used a 29-2 run to close out the first half. A Warren Webb three started the run at 13:16 before Henfield had a jumper, Patterson had back-to-back shots from behind the arc and Gamble had a jumper to make it 32-8 Tarleton with 9:17 on the clock.
Brandon Dewalt had a layup on the next Crusader possession to give the visitors their halftime total of 10 points. Dan Eichel had a jumper at 8:37 to stretch the lead to 24 before Patterson and Gamble added another three and jumper, respectively. Henfield added a long jumper before he got a putback at 4:53 to make it 44-10 Texans.
Henfield then got a steal and a fastbreak layup with 3:40 on the clock prior to Williams getting a steal and an alley-oop dunk on an assist from Henfield to give the game its halftime score, 48-10. Neither team scored in the last three minutes of the first half.
The Texans opened the second half scoring 19 straight points thanks to threes from Patterson (twice), Wilson, Eichel and Bryant as well as dunks by Gamble and Henfield. Bryant hit another two more threes for three straight shots from beyond the arc to pus the lead to 63 before Lawyer scored the first Crusader basket since the 8:55-mark in the first half, a 14:47 drought.
Bryant hit another three on the next Texan possession before Nic Cantrell and Eric Williams scored for the Texans. Webb had two free throws at 10:26 before a Cantrell layup at 9:55 put Tarleton ahead 72 points (84-12). Dalon Parker got a jumper for the Crusaders to cut the lead to 708 before Henfield hit the backend of a two-shot foul.
A layup by Lawyer cut the score to 69 before Bryant and High traded buckets. Tarleton then closed the game with a 6-1 run over the next five minutes. Quinton Taylor had a three-point play the hard way with 5:52 remaining in the contest while Webb added two free throws and a jumper. The last score for the Crusaders came when High had a free throw with 2:52 remaining.
The Texans were led by Patterson with 20 points while Henfield had a double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Also scoring in double digits was Bryant (14) and Gamble (10).
Tarleton averaged .493 from the field (35-71), .471 from the three-point arc (16-34) and .727 from the charity stripe (8-11). The Texans were just one three-point make away from the school record in a single game.
DC was led by Lawyer with 10 points while Dewalt had seven rebounds.
The Crusaders shot .160 from the field (8-50), .111 from the arc (2-18) and .250 from the line (1-4).
Tarleton will return to action Monday, Nov. 26 at home against St. Edward's in the first South Central regional contest of the season. After the game, which is scheduled for 8 p.m., the Texans will sign team pictures for the first 250 people.
