STEPHENVILLE ? The No. 19 Tarleton Texans hit nine of 10 free throws in the last two-plus minutes to take an 83-67 victory over Texas A&M-International in the final game of the Fifth Annual Texan Tip-Off Classic.

The Texans led by nine with 2:13 left, and Tarleton scored the last seven points from the charity stripe as the home team was 19-of-21 from the line in the second half.

“I thought our free throw shooting in the second half, but we are going to have to learn to take care of the ball better,” said Tarleton head coach.  “I thought we played hard tonight, and we never backed down.  However, the chemistry is still not there, and we have a long way to go.”

The Texans turned the ball over 26 times, but the Dustdevils scored just 15 points off of those blunders while the Texans scored 26 points off of 21 TAMIU mishaps.

Jeremiah Wilson got the game going with a turnaround jumper 1:33 into the contest and Eric Williams added a free throw at 17:43.  Jasper Garrett then had a layup for the visitors to cut the lead to one before he hit two free throws to put the Dustdevils ahead 4-3. With 16:39 on the clock, Joe Reed had a layup to increase the lead to three.

A minute later, Monquel Pegues had two free throws to cut the lead to one before Jean-Marc Melchior got a steal and a fastbreak layup to put the Texans ahead by one, 7-6 with 14:53 remaining in the half.  Ignacio Garcia then had a layup 53 seconds later to return the lead to the Dustdevils.  With 13:32 on the clock, Williams tied the game with a free throw before Antron Pippen had one of his own to make it 9-8 TAMIU at 13:13.

At the 12:37-mark, Williams then had an old-fashioned three-point play to put Tarleton up by two before Tyler Rushing had a three from the left corner 34 seconds afterwards to give the Texans a 14-9 advantage.  Williams added to the lead with a jumper in the paint.  Melchior had a free throw to make it 17-9 Texans.  With 10:08 left in the period, Rushing had another jumper to make it a 10-point game.

Pegues had a putback at 7:14 to increase the lead to 12 before Jerante Morgan ended a seven-minute bucket drought for the visitors when he had a three-point play the hard way on the visiting end.  The Dustdevils went 0-10 from the field in the scoring drought.

Pegues then had a free throw at 6:32 before Pippen had the same 25 seconds later.  Melchior had a layup before Williams had a fastbreak dunk when Melchior stole the ball on the other end of the floor. 

Garcia had a free throw with 3:51 on the clock before Matthews Smith had a jumper to cut the lead to 10, but a Pegues dunk made it 28-16 with 2:17 left.  Spencer Foreman then had a steal and a fastbreak layup for the Dustdevils to cut the lead to 10 with 74 seconds remaining in the period. 

Effran Bryant had two bonus shots with 1:09 left in the first half, but TAMIU had the last four points of the half to cut the Texan lead to 30-22 at the break. Mark Walton had a three and a free throw for the Dustdevils in the last minute. 

Garrett had two free throws for the visitors to cut the lead to six to open the second half, but Tyrone Cole-Scott had a bucket at 17:49 for his first points of the game.  Foreman and Williams traded free throws before Cole-Scott had a layup for the Texans.  Pegues sank two bonus shots at 16:12 to stretch the lead to 13 points before Garcia had a putback at 15:53 to cut the lead to 39-28.  He was fouled in the process and sank the free throw.

The Texans turned the ball over and Derek Barnes had a layup to cut the lead to seven, 38-31.  With 14 and a half minutes left, Wilson had a three from the right corner to return the lead to double-digits.  Rushing then had a three from the left corner to increase the lead to 44-31 with 13:37 on the clock before Chris Buttermore did the same on the opposite end. 

Reed and Walton had buckets for the Dustdevils to make it a six-point game before Bryant had a jumper for the Texans.  Williams then got a fastbreak layup to return the lead to 10.  With 10:42 on the clock, Barnes had a three-point play the old-fashioned way before scoring two free throws to make it 48-43 with 10:24 remaining in the contest.

Rushing had a bucket for Tarleton before Pippen sank two free throws at 9:57.  Rushing had a jumper followed by two free throws to make it 54-45 with 8:58 on the clock.  Smith had two free throws to cut the lead to seven, but Rushing hit a three for Tarleton.  Garrett and Wale Ogunoye then traded baskets to put the Texans up 59-49.

Sean Tucker put two bonus shots in for the visitors before Cortney Hill had a three for the Texans to make it an 11-point game.  Wilson then had a bucket to make it 64-51 Texans, but TAMIU went on an 8-0 run to cut the lead to five at 4:48. 

With 4:47 on the clock, Garrett was called for a technical foul for hanging on the rim after he got a fastbreak dunk.  Bryant sank both free throws and Wilson had a putback to give the Texans ahead by nine.  Reed then had a jumper on the other end before Bryant had two more bonus shots at 3:43.  Williams then got a steal and a dunk for Tarleton to push the lead to 11 with 3:27 on the clock.

Foreman had two free throws six seconds later to cut the lead to nine, but Williams had a layup on the other end.  Barnes then had two free throws for the Dustdevils to cut the score to 74-65.  Wilson then had two for the Texans to give him double digits in the game.  Smith traded a basket with two Bryant free throws.

Wilson was fouled with 1:49 on the clock to stop the action, and he hit one of two shots.  Cole-Scott was also fouled to stop the clock, and the junior hit both free shots.  Rushing did the same with 1:20 on the clock to give the Texans an 83-67 victory.

Tarleton was led by Rushing with 19 points while Williams (17), Wilson (12) and Bryant (10) also scored in double digits.  Wilson led the team with 12 rebounds as the Texans outrebounded their opponents, 50-38.

The Texans averaged .455 from the field (25-55), .333 from the arc (5-15) and .700 from the charity stripe (28-40) in the win.

The Dustdevils were led by Garrett (10) and Foreman (10) in scoring while Walton led the squad with five rebounds.

TAMIU averaged .286 from the field (20-70), .091 from the arc (2-22) and .806 from the line (25-31). 

The Texans will return to action Tuesday, Nov. 25 against Texas A&M-Commerce at 8 p.m. in Stephenville.