STEPHENVILLE – Five Texans scored in double figures Saturday night to help Tarleton record a 78-62 Lone Star Conference South Division opening victory over Angelo State in Wisdom Gym.

The ASU loss came three days after the Rams defeated No. 7 Midwestern State in San Angelo and dropped the visitors to 9-7 overall and 1-1 in the South Division while the Texans improved to 13-3 and 1-0 in the South.

Jeremiah Wilson tied his career high with 21 points as the senior recorded his sixth double-double leading all rebounders with 12.

“We came out tonight and really tried to make our touches count,” Wilson said.  “This was a big win for us, and now we can build on this opening division win.”

The Texans outscored the Rams 34-26 in the paint, and the four big men who played most of the game scored a total of 43 points.

“The inside game was as big as it has been all year long,” said head coach Lonn Reisman.  “We gave the big guys some touches, and I thought that was the difference in this game.”

The Texans held ASU to 30.2 percent from the field and 17.4 percent from the three-point arc. 

“Our emphasis tonight was to play great defense, and I feel we did that,” Reisman said.  “We had a good week of practice, and our coaching staff did a great job preparing for this game.  We stayed with the game plan, and tonight, we got a big win.”

Devon Hills started the scoring with a jumper in the paint for the Texans before Corin Henry put the Texans up by two after a Johnny Barnes free throw.  Effran Bryant then hit a shot from beyond the arc to make it 7-2 Texans with 17:30 on the clock.  A Derrick Webster jumper cut the lead to three before Bryant hit another long-range shot to put Tarleton up by six.  Hills had a free throw before a Wale Ogunoye dunk on a pass from Henry gave Tarleton a 13-4 advantage with 15:54 on the clock. 

The Rams cut the lead to six before Jeremiah Wilson had a layup at 13:35, but a free throw by Webster and a three by LaMarshall Corbett cut the score to 15-11 with 12:14 on the clock.  Wilson had an old-fashioned three-point play before another Corbett three, but  Oguonye had a turnaround jumper at 10:53 to put Tarleton ahead 20-14.

Hills had a dunk for the Texans before two Corbett free throws cut the lead to six, but Ogunoye had a jumper in the paint for the home team.  Wilson added two free throws before a Smith jumper put the Texans ahead by 12.  ASU cut the lead to eight before Henry had a jumper and Smith had a layup to return the lead to 12 (32-20) with 6:26 on the clock. 

Again the two teams traded baskets prior to the Rams hitting seven straight points to cut the lead to five (36-31) with 2:50 remaining in the first period.  Smith then had two free throws for the purple and white before Chris Harrell had one of his own.  Wilson then nailed a three from the top of the key to stretch the lead to 42-31 with 32 ticks left in the half.  Shavar Burch had two free throws for the visitors to give the game its halftime total with Tarleton leading, 42-33.

The Texans shot 62.5 percent from the floor in the first half and outscored the visitors off the bench (11-2) and in the paint (20-12).

Hills opened the second half with a three just 12 seconds into the period before Burch and Barnes had layups for the visitors.  Ogunoye had two free throws before Hills had a layup.  Henry then added two free throws of his own to make it 51-37 with 17:20 on the clock. 

The Rams then cut the lead to 11 before an intentional foul was called on Stavon Williams at 16:19, and Wilson hit the backend of the two-shot bonus.  Tarleton kept the ball, and Bryant found Wilson on a dunk to stretch the lead to 14, 54-40.  With 14:49, Webster was called for a foul and then a technical foul.  Bryant hit both ends of the bonus.

Smith then got a dunk for Tarleton at 13:26 before the junior hit a free throw 26 seconds later.  ASU then cut the lead to 10, but Smith got a layup at 11:26 to give Tarleton a 61-49 advantage.  Wilson added to the lead with two free throws with just under  11 minutes remaining in the contest.  The senior added two more bonus throws to make it a 16-point lead for Tarleton, 65-49. 

Burch had a three-point play the hard way for the Rams before Darrion Washington had a free throw for the home team.  Corbitt and Wilson traded two free throws apiece before a free throw by Ogunoye gave Tarleton a 69-54 advantage with 3:32.  The lead was cut to 12 before Wilson had a dunk and Henry a layup.  Ellis then connected on a three on the opposite end before Corbett had two free throws to cut the lead to 11 with 61 ticks left in the contest.  Ogunoye had a layup with 44 seconds left before Bryant put the final touch on the game with four seconds left to beat the shot clock and give the Texans a 78-62 win.

Also scoring in double figures was Ogunoye (11), Smith (11), Bryant (11) and Hills (10).

Tarleton averaged .480 from the floor (24-50), .313 from the arc (5-16) and .781 from the charity stripe (25-32). 

The Rams were led by Corbett with 25 points while Burch had 12.  Barnes and Webster led the squad with seven rebounds each.

ASU averaged .302 from the arc (19-63), .174 from the arc (4-23) and .769 from the line (20-26).  

Tarleton was outrebounded 39-36, but the Texans outscored the opponents 17-8 from the bench.

The Texans will return to action on Wednesday, Jan. 20 at 8 p.m. when they host Eastern New Mexico in Wisdom Gym.