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ABILENE – For the seventh time in the last nine seasons and the 11th time in his career, a Tarleton Texan men's basketball team has won its 20th game of the season with a 70-60 victory at Abilene Christian on Tuesday.
The Texans improved to 20-5 and 7-2 in the Lone Star Conference South Division after the purple and white outscored the home team 17-7 in the final six minutes to take the victory.
“ACU is a good basketball team and they made us uncomfortable several times tonight,” Reisman said. “We did not look crisp; really, we looked tired tonight. We are going to go to work tomorrow.
“I am proud of our team for getting through this game after we let them come back and tie the game,” Reisman said. “We had very good effort and good support from the bench tonight. We collectively were not sharp tonight, but we played well enough to win a tough game on the road.”
A Jeremiah Wilson jumper in the paint put the first points of the contest at 17:54 before the Wildcats scored the next nine points to take an early 9-2 advantage. Donta Smith then got a dunk before Devon Hills added two free throws to make it 9-6 with 13:05 remaining the half. After a Wildcat layup, Corin Henry nailed a three to pull the Texans within two, but Dustin Heiman did the same on the other end to make it 14-9 with 12:21 on the clock.
Fifteen seconds later, Wilson got two bonus shots before Preston Davis had one on the other end, but Effran Bryant had a three to pull Tarleton within one, 17-16, at 7:49. After a Marcus Washington jumper, Chris Harrell had two free throws followed by a Warren Webb jumper to put the Texans ahead 20-19 with 6:05 remaining in the first period.
The two teams traded points before Bryant hit another three at 4:51 to make it 25-21, but a layup by Heiman cut the lead to two. Wilson and Heiman traded threes before Bryant had a jumper to make it 30-26. Eddie Thompson then had a jumper before a Abby Kabba free throw that cut the lead to one with 51.2 seconds left. Smith and Ben Warton traded buckets, the latter with just 6.4 seconds left, but Bryant got the ball in the inbounds pass, and the Texan senior nailed a three from 44 feet out after crossing the midcourt line to beat the buzzer and send the visitors into the locker room with a 35-31 lead.
ACU got the first points of the second session before Wilson and Wale Ogunoye had back-to-back jumpers for Tarleton to make it 39-33. After a Wharton three, Hills and Smith had two putbacks to make it 43-36. Washington had a free throw for the home team before Smith hit the backend on the other end. At 12:57, Bryant nailed a three from the top of the key to stretch the Texan lead to 10, 47-37.
The Wildcats' Giordan Cole had two free throws prior to Hills getting a layup. The Texan junior was fouled, but he missed the layup, and Tarleton led 49-39 with 12:06 on the clock. Kevin White hit a three at 10:36 to cut the lead to seven, 49-42. ACU got another layup to make it a five-point game before Wilson got a putback on the opposite end. A Wildcat turnover led to Bryant hitting Hills on a fastbreak dunk to stretch the lead to nine, 53-44.
With 8:06 on the clock, Wharton went to the line and made two bonus shots prior to a layup by Cole. With 6:56 on the clock, Thompson had a jumper and was fouled. The Wildcat hit the free throw to pull the lead to two, 53-51. Thompson then had a jumper to tie the game at 53 with 6:14 on the clock.
After an almost four-minute scoring drought by the Texans, Hills had an old-fashioned three-point play at 5:24 to return the lead to the Texans. Bryant then had a three from the left corner after he stole the ball to increase the lead to six (59-53) 22 seconds later. Bryant added a bucket at 4:12 for the Texans to make it 61-53 before a free throw by Dosh Simms cut the lead to seven.
Hills went to the line for the Texans with 3:42 remaining in the period, and the junior hit both free throws to return the lead to nine. Washington did the same on the opposite end, but Hills hit one-of-two again on the return trip for the Texans. At 1:46, Bryant had two bonus shots to increase the score to 66-56 Tarleton. Cole got a layup before a Texan turnover led to two Thompson free throws that made it 66-60 with 1:29 on the clock. Webb was fouled on the inbounds pass to stop the clock, and the Texan hit the backend of a two-shot foul to stretch the lead to seven.
Bryant hit Wilson with 58.7 seconds on the clock for a wide-open dunk to beat the press. A missed Wildcat three was rebounded by the Texans, and Webb was fouled with 29.2 seconds remaining in the contest. He hit one of the two free throws to make it 70-60 as the Texans won on the road.
The Texans were led by Bryant with 21 points while Hills (16) and Wilson (15) shot in double figures. Wilson topped the team with nine rebounds as the Texans outrebounded the home team 37-35.
Tarleton averaged .522 from the floor (24-46), .350 from the three-point arc (7-20) and .577 from the charity stripe (15-26).
The Wildcats were led by Thompson with 12 points and Warton with 10 points while Cole had seven boards to lead ACU.
The home team shot .328 from the field (19-58), .238 from the arc (5-21) and .680 from the line (17-25).
Tarleton outscored ACU 20-14 in the paint and 32-15 off turnovers.
The Texans will return to action at home for Senior Night at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 20 as Tarleton host Texas A&M-Kingsville in Wisdom Gym.
