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CANYON – The Texans handed head coach Lonn Reisman win No. 450 at Tarleton State University on Saturday with a 69-56 victory in Canyon over West Texas A&M.
“This 450th win means I have had a lot of good players, great assistant coaches and tremendous athletics department staff,” Reisman said. “This is a family accomplishment. T his is not a one-guy accomplishment, this is an accomplishment that is for the university and all the fans of Tarleton State University.”
Tarleton outscored the Buffaloes by 13 points in the second half (38-25), helped by a 14-2 run to start the second half. The Texans improved to 15-3 overall and 3-0 in the Lone Star Conference South Division.
“This was a sweet victory,” Reisman said. “West Texas has been a tremendous program, and to win here is nice. I want to give God all the glory for this win and my career. “West Texas A&M is a hard place to play, and they have a great ball club. This win means a lot to our young basketball team. Not many teams come out here to Canyon and get the win.”
Tarleton had four players in double figures on Saturday and seven of the nine players that stepped on the floor scored for the purple and white.
“We can go 10 or 11 deep, and that was a key tonight,” Reisman said. “The fact Jeremiah can have a night when he just scores six points and we have someone to come off the bench and pick him up and play quality minutes to still give us the win.”
Leading the way for the Texans was Effran Bryant, who the day after his 22nd birthday tallied 19 points.
“Getting the win here against a big rival that is an established program is a great feeling,” Bryant said. “They were 8-0 at home this season before tonight, and we did what we needed to do to get a big victory.
“To hand coach his 450th win was special because knowing he started his coaching career at Tarleton 22 years ago, and now a day after my 22nd birthday to help him get that milestone is incredible,” Bryant said.
Tarleton jumped out to an early lead with back-to-back threes by Bryant before the Buffs scored the next eight points to take an 8-6 lead with 16:35 left in the first half. Corin Henry stopped a three-minute drought by the Texans to tie the game at eight before the two teams traded buckets. Before a layup by Jeremiah Wilson got a fastbreak layup after a Bryant steal to put Tarleton ahead 12-10 with 12 minutes left in the period.
WTAMU then scored five straight before Wale Oguonye had a layup to cut the score to 15-14 but Bijan Dotson and Joe Mincey had a putback and two free throws, respectively. Bryant then had two free throws at 6:31 to cut the score to 19-16 before Jacquiese Holcombe had a jumper to make it 21-16 with 6:12 remaining in the first half.
Tarleton then scored seven straight with a layup, a three and a jumper all by Devon Hills. Tarleton led 23-21. Chris Tucker then tied the game before Bryant and Donta Smith each had two free throws for Tarleton to make it 27-23 Texans. A three by Ladarius Hall made it 27-26 with 1:44 on the clock before Smith had a free throw just 20 seconds later. Nick Burns hit a three with 71 ticks left in the first period which was followed by two free throws from Hall to give the Buffs a 31-28 lead. However, with 2.3 seconds left in the half, Hills nailed a three behind NBA-range to tie the game at 31 all at the break.
Just 14 seconds into the second period, Wilson got a layup for Tarleton to return the lead to the visitors, and following a WTAMU turnover, Hills sank two bonus shots to stretch the lead to four. After both teams traded points, Bryant got a fastbreak layup and was fouled, but the senior missed the free throw. Tarleton led 38-33 with just under 18 minutes left in the contest.
Hills had a layup for Tarleton to put the Texans ahead by seven before a Smith turnaround hook from the left side gave the Texans a 42-33 advantage with 15:14 on the clock. With 14:06 on the clock, Henry got a bucket for Tarleton to make it a double-digit lead, but Mason White had a score for the Buffs to end the Texan streak. Smith then got a putback on the opposite end before a jumper inside the free throw line for Henry made it 48-35 with just under 13 minutes left.
WTAMU scored eight straight before Bryant went to the line with 8:31 on the clock, and the senior ended a five-minute scoring drought hitting two free throws to make it 50-43. Henry then hit a jumper from the top of the key at 8:03 to stretch the lead to nine before Bryant had a three with 7:39 on the clock to make it 55-43 Texans.
With 6:02 on the clock, Smith got a power dunk for Tarleton to stretch the lead to 14 prior to Bryant adding two free throws. Henry gave Tarleton a 61-45 lead with 5:14 on the clock with two free throws. The two teams traded points again before Darrion Washington hit a three from the right side of the floor to make it 66-48 with three and a half minutes remaining in the period. With 2:39, Hills got an easy layup after a pass from Henry before Donnie Kidd got one on the opposite end.
At the 1:21-mark of the second period, Henry connected on one bonus shot to stretch the lead to 15, 69-54. Mincey hit two free throws for the home team with 57.3 seconds on the clock. Tarleton missed their last bucket before Henry got the defensive rebound to claim the contest, 69-56.
Joining Bryant in double figures was Hills (16), Henry (11) and Smith (11). Smith led the team with seven rebounds.
The Texans averaged .590 from the floor (23-39), .462 from the three-point arc (6-13) and .739 from the charity stripe (17-23).
WTAMU, who fell to 11-8 overall and 2-2 in the South Division, was led by Mincey with 18 points and Hall with 11. Kidd, Dotson and Hall each had five rebounds to lead the team as Tarleton was outrebounded 31-23.
The Buffs averaged .413 from the field (19-46), .231 from the arc (3-13) and .600 from the line (15-25).
Tarleton outscored WTAMU 24-15 in points off turnovers while both teams scored 22 in the paint and 14 off the bench.
The Texans will return to action on Wednesday, Jan. 27 at home against Abilene Christian. Tip-off in Wisdom Gym is set for 8 p.m.
