- Box Score
STEPHENVILLE – The No. 17 Tarleton Texans held East Central to 11 points in the first half on their way to an 81-49 victory on Saturday in Stephenville to improve to 6-1 to start the season for the first time since the 2006-07 season.
The Texans had four players in double figures as Tarleton won their second straight game while the Tigers fell to 5-3.
“East Central is a good team, and we played a good game tonight,” said Tarleton head coach Lonn Reisman. “The Tigers came in here with five wins, but we worked hard from the beginning of the game. We are trying to keep the intensity up.”
The Texan coach was pleased with the effort of his team this week.
“This is a very cerebral group, and they work hard as far as watching video and trying to soak up all the coaching staff is giving them,” Reisman said. “I thought we fought back well this week after the loss, and I hope we can continue our improvements as we go along. We still have a lot of basketball left.”
The first points of the game came for a putback by Wale Ogunoye at 19:28 before two free throws by Wes Dipprey gave Tarleton a 4-0 lead with 16:26 on the clock. Twenty seconds later, Fabian Wilson had a layup to put Tarleton up by six. A three by Caprest Rhone cut the lead in half before Carrington Tankson had a jumper at 15:35. ECU cut the lead to two with a three by Bobby McAdoo at 13:22, but the Texans went on a run.
With buckets by Wilson, Corin Henry, Dipprey and Donta Smith along with a free throw from Dipprey that gave Tarleton a 19-6 lead with 9:03 on the clock to force a Tiger timeout to stop the run. However, it didn't work because the Texans extended the run to 13-0 with two free throws by Henry to give the Texans a 21-6 lead at 8:16. Tankson then hit a three for Tarleton at 6:11 followed by a jumper by Devon Hills at 4:39, a free throw by Hills at 3:33 and a jumper by Nick Mosley to make it 29-6 at 2:41.
The run stretched to 16-0 before Darnell Davis had a jumper at 2:24 to end the drought for the visitors that was 11 minutes long. Tankson then had a three for Tarleton before Jamal Edwards had two free throws for the Tigers. Dipprey had a jumper for the home team before Henry and Tankson closed the half with points as Tarleton took a 38-11 lead into halftime.
Henry continued the assault with a three to open the second half and push the lead to 30, but the Tigers cut the lead down to 26 at 17:50 with a three-point play the hard way by Edwards. Tarleton led 43-17 before going on an 8-0 run to stretch the lead to 34. The two teams traded buckets over the next couple of minutes. The lead hovered between 31-33 points before a three by Wilson at 8:30 made it 68-34. Mosley had a layup prior to two bonus shots by Denarius Darby to cut the lead to 34.
Coleman Furst doubled the score of the Tigers with two free throws for Tarleton before he had two more at 6:42. Darby and Eric Avant had back-to-back buckets for just the second time in the game for the Tigers. Dipprey had a free throw as did Smith for Tarleton to make it 76-40 with 4:44 on the clock.
The two teams traded points over the final minutes of the game. James Thomas had the backend of a two-shot foul at 1:13 for Tarleton before Charlton Wilson had two free throws for the visitors. Charlie Hurd had the last field goal of the game with 42 seconds left before Hayden Darst had a free throw with 10 ticks left to give the game its final total as Tarleton won 81-49.
Tarleton was led by Henry with 15 points as four Texans scored in double figures. Wilson (13), Tankson (12) and Hills (11) each had double digits for the home team while Dipprey's eight rebounds topped the squad.
Tarleton averaged .433 from the floor (26-60), .417 from the arc (5-12) and .706 from the charity stripe (24-34).
The Tigers were led by Edwards with 11 points as the only visitor in double figures while Chris Lee and Wilson each had five rebounds.
ECU averaged .313 from the field (15-48), .235 from the arc (4-17) and .556 from the line (15-27).
Tarleton outscored the visitors 34-14 in the paint, 19-8 off turnovers and 43-22 off the bench. Tarleton outrebounded the Tigers 46-31 as the Texans forced 18 turnovers to their own nine errors.
The Texans will return to action on Tuesday, Dec. 7 at Southwestern Oklahoma. The game in Weatherford, Okla. is set for an 8 p.m. tip-off.
