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STEPHENVILLE – The Tarleton Texans have now won 14 straight games taking place after the New Year as Tarleton downed Texas-Permian Basin on Saturday, 65-33.
The Texans improved to 10-2 on the season with win over the Falcons who fell to 4-7.
Effran Bryant led the squad with 17 points while hitting five three-point shots in the win as Tarleton hit 50 percent from the floor. Jeremiah Wilson recorded his fourth straight double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds to help Tarleton outrebound the visitors, 38-23.
Bryant got the game going with a three before a Wale Ogunoye tip-in put the Texans up by five. Elijah Jordan then hit a three for the visitors for their only points until the 11:42-mark. Tarleton led 17-3 before the Falcons put another point on the board, and scoring in the run was Devon Hills, Bryant, Corin Henry and Warren Webb.
The next point for the visitors came on a free throw by Charles Hooper with 11:42 on the clock to make it 17-4 before Chris Harrell had a three. Mihai Urichainu had a jumper for the Falcons to make it 20-6 with 9:03 on the clock, but that would be the last points for UTPB until 3:50. Bryant added another three and Jeremiah Wilson had a dunk on an alley-oop to stretch the lead to 19. Keenan Gay had the free throw at 3:50 prior to another Harrell three.
A Bryant layup was followed by two free throws from Wale Ogunoye made it 32-7 with 59 ticks left in the first half. Jordan put the last points on the board for the Falcons in the first half when he hit a jumper in the paint 20 seconds later to give the game its halftime score as Tarleton led 32-9 at the break.
The Falcons shot 12 percent in the first half, hitting just three-of-25 shots in the period as the Texans shot 44 percent.
Tarleton stretched its lead to 29 with 16:43 on the clock with a three by Bryant to make the score 40-11 before a free throw by Justin Bailey and a three by Jeremy Gilbert made it 43-12 with 14:47 remaining in the contest. Bailey then had a three-point play the hard way followed by a jumper in the paint by the Falcon to cut the lead to 26 (43-17). Jordan then increased the Falcon run to 7-0 before Hills had a jumper for the Texans.
Wilson had an old-fashioned three-point play at 10:57 to make it 48-22. The teams traded threes as the Falcons cut the lead to 25 (53-28) at 7:45. Tarleton led by 24 two minutes later before Wilson traded a layup with a Charles Harper free throw. Hills had a dunk before a Gilbert three and a Smith layup made it 65-33 with 2:45 on the clock.
Neither team scored again, as the Texans won by 32 points and improved to 20-4 against Heartland Conference teams since 2001-02.
Also scoring in double figures for Tarleton was Hills with 10. The Texans averaged .500 from the field (24-48), .524 from the three-point arc (11-21) and .545 from the line (6-11).
UTPB was led by Jordan and Bailey with 12 points apiece while Jordan had six boards to top the squad. The visitors averaged .267 from the field (12-45), .200 from the arc (4-20) and .556 from the line (5-9).
Tarleton outscored the Falcons 26-14 in the paint, 16-5 off turnovers and 19-7 in second chance points. The Texans outscored the opponent from the bench, 16-2.
Tarleton will return to action at home on Monday, Jan. 4 when it hosts Paul Quinn at 7 p.m. in Wisdom Gym. The men's team will sign autographs after the contest.
