Box Score

STEPHENVILLE – The Tarleton Texan men's basketball team improved to 2-0 on the season with a 68-50 victory over Texas A&M International in Tarleton's first game of the Sixth Annual Texan Tip-Off Classic in Stephenville.

The Dustdevils jumped out to an early lead when Paul Latham hit a three just 39 seconds into the game before Corin Henry hit the first of his 18 points for the Texans. Tarleton's Effran Bryant and TAMIU's Christian Jones traded buckets as did Devon Hills and Chris Swan as the Dustdevils took an 8-6 lead with 14:41 on the clock.

Tarleton's Chris Harrell tied the game at 8-8 with 14:07 remaining in the first half and opened a 25-5 run over the next 10-plus minutes to take a 31-13 lead. Scoring from the arc during the drive was Henry, Harrell and Bryant. Also scoring for the Texans was Jeremiah Wilson, Hills and Donta Smith.

Bernard Burrell ended the run with a free throw with 2:48 left in the first half before Hills hit a three for Tarleton 30 seconds later. Burrell hit another bonus shot 50 seconds after his first free throw followed by a layup to cut the lead to 17 (34-17) with 1:20 on the clock. Burrell then hit a three with 42 ticks left in the half to cut the Texans' lead to 34-20 at the break.

Both teams traded buckets before Tarleton went ahead by 16 with 18:07 left in the contest, but the Dustdevils scored the next eight points to bring the lead to just eight, 39-31 with 15:41 on the clock. A jumper by Latham pulled the visitors within six with just under 14 minutes left on the clock. Darrion Washington and Jones traded threes before Bryant hit a three for the Texans with 11:25 on the clock to make it a nine-point advantage (45-36). 

Latham had a layup followed by a Smith free throw just inside the 10-minute mark to put Tarleton ahead 46-38 before Tarleton used another run to get ahead by double digits. The free throw by Smith started the run that was sparked by a Henry three-point play the hard way at 9:29. Henry got the same on the next trip down the floor before Bryant had a free throw with just over eight minutes left to make it 53-38 Tarleton.

The two teams traded baskets for the rest of the evening as the Texans increased their lead to as much as 19 at the 5:14-mark thanks to a layup by Hills and again at 1:51 when Wilson hit two free throws. Burrell recorded the last bucket for TAMIU while Charlie Hurd had a free throw with 12 ticks left to add the last point to the scoreboard and give the Texans a 68-50 victory.

Henry was the only Texan in double figures and added six assists while Wilson and Smith led the squad in rebounds with eight and six rebounds, respectively. Tarleton was outrebounded 31-28, but the Texans scored 26 points in the paint to the Dustdevils' 20. Tarleton also added 21 points off the bench.

The Texans averaged .545 from the field (24-44), .421 from the arc (8-19) and .571 from the charity stripe (12-21). Tarleton had 15 turnovers and 11 assists in the win.

Latham finished with 21 points to lead the Dustdevils while Burrell had 11 points and six rebounds.

TAMIU shot .388 from the field (19-49), .333 from the arc (6-18) and .500 from the line (6-12).