- Box Score
STEPHENVILLE – Tarleton senior Corin Henry tied a career-high of 29 points on Friday as the Texans claimed an 81-66 victory over Texas-Permian Basin.
Tarleton remained undefeated in the Texan Tip-Off Classic, which is in its sixth season. Tarleton is 11-0 in its own Classic as it improves to 2-0 on the year.
“I knew coming in they had a good basketball team, maybe one of the best they have had out there, and they really wanted to play,” said Tarleton head coach Lonn Reisman. “With us being No. 11 in the nation, we have to learn that people are going to come into a game with us, and UTPB came out ready to play tonight.”
Henry finished the night with four rebounds, four assists and three steals in addition to his game-high point total.
“Corin did a great job, and always does, of running our offense,” Reisman said. “I thought he took care of the ball, but we still need to be better on offense for the entire game.”
The Texan head coach still wasn't what the staff wanted on both ends of the floor.
“We can't look at the score, and we have a lot of improvement to make defensively, especially,” Reisman said. “We have to get better tomorrow night because we will play a tremendous Newman team that is very well coached and prepared. I realize this is our first strong competition, and we are trying to find our chemistry and roles, but we have to keep working hard every day.”
After the Texans fell behind 5-2 in the first three minutes of the contest, Warren Webb hit a three at 16:30 to tie the game at five points apiece. John Wolfe and Corin Henry traded buckets before a three by Louis Crane and a jumper by Erik Martin made it 12-7 with 12:25 in favor of the visitors.
Then the Texans went on a 13-0 to take a 20-12 lead with 7:44 remaining in the first half. Scoring in the run was Devon Hills, Henry and Webb. After leading 20-15 at the 7:06-mark, Tarleton outscored the opponent 19-3 over the next six minutes to stretch its lead to its largest point in the first half – 21 points. Tarleton led 39-18 at that point with 1:31 remaining in the period.
UTPB cut the lead to 17 with 22 seconds left in the half as the Texans took a 41-24 advantage into the locker rooms.
The two teams traded three-point buckets to start the second half before the Falcons cut the lead to 13 at 16:40, 44-31. Webb traded a layup with two free throws by Crane prior to a layup by both Henry and Wes Dipprey made it 50-33 with 15:26 on the clock. UTPB then scored five straight points to cut the lead to 12 before Oguonye hit Webb on a backdoor dunk to make it 52-38 with 13:38 remaining in the contest.
The two teams traded points before the Texans stretched their lead to 15 on two different occasions at 11:14 and 10:32. UTPB then cut the lead to 12 at 10:14 on an Elijah Jordan three, but Tarleton responded with two free throws by Henry and a jumper by Webb that made it 66-50 with 8:51 on the clock.
After the score was again cut to 12 (66-54) with 7:42 remaining in the game, Tarleton stretched the lead to 18 with a free throw by Hills at 3:39. Jordan had another three for the visitors before Henry did the same at 3:06 to make it 77-59. Hills and Eric Segert traded free throws before Henry tied his career high of 29 points with a free throw at 2:02.
Austin Williams had a three before two Hills free throws. Crane added two bonus shots for the visitors before Segert had one of his own to give the game its final total as the Texans won 81-66.
Joining Henry in double figures was Hills and Webb with 17 points apiece. Webb led the team with five rebounds as the team outrebounded the Falcons, 27-26.
Tarleton averaged .551 from the floor (27-49), .429 from the three-point arc (6-14) and .677 from the charity stripe (21-31).
Holden (19) and Martin (10) led the Falcons in scoring while Martin's five rebounds topped the squad.
UTPB averaged .410 from the field (16-39), .438 from the arc (7-16) and .844 from the line (27-32).
The Texans outscored the Falcons 34-12 in the paint and 30-9 in points off turnovers as the Texans had 12 turnovers and the Falcons had 21.
Tarleton will return to action on Saturday, Nov. 20 at 7 p.m. when it hosts Newman in the final game of the Texan Tip-Off Classic. UTPB and Angelo State will play the first game on Saturday at 5 p.m.
