- Box Score
- Video of Postgame Press Conference
BARTLESVILLE, Okla. – The Tarleton Texans never trailed Friday in the second round of the Lone Star Conference Men's Basketball Championship against West Texas A&M, and the Texans claimed their third win over the Buffaloes this season to advance to the finals on Saturday thanks to the 82-68 victory.
Tarleton improved to 23-6 with the win to put the Texans in their sixth LSC Championship Tournament final since the 2002 season. Tarleton has won just one of those – defeating Northeastern State 69-66 in 2004.
“West Texas A&M played hard tonight, and we have a tremendous respect for the program and its head coach,” said Tarleton head coach Lonn Reisman. “Rick [Cooper] does a great job of preparing his kids, and we knew we would have to be ready to play and at a high level because that is exactly what his kids come to do every game.”
The Texans had taken two previous victories from the Buffaloes, and Reisman was proud of the defensive efforts Friday.
“I thought our execution on defense was excellent for the first 35 minutes of tonight's game,” Reisman said. “I give a lot of credit to my associate head coach, Chris Reisman. He dissects the tapes like surgeon, and he had our team well-prepared for the night.”
Cooper said coaching against the Texans is not an easy task.
“I knew we couldn't out-coach the Tarleton staff, I knew we had to out play them,” Cooper said. “They are fun to watch when you are not playing against them. I never felt like we could get control of the game. It was difficult to get going offensively and they hit the shots when they needed them.”
Cooper added the Tarleton defense was stifling.
“I give all the credit to Tarleton. They are very good defensive team and they got us out of our rhythm off the bat tonight,” said WTAMU head coach Rick Cooper. “They were aggressive. We had too many turnovers, and again, I credit the Tarleton defense for that. They played well tonight.”
Tarleton forced 19 turnovers and turned them into 21 points as the Texans rolled to a big lead from the beginning. However, the Buffs didn't go away and would fight back to make it a close contest. The Texans, though, would not led the game out of their hands.
“We only had 12 turnovers tonight, and that is a big key to this victory,” Reisman said. “Against their press, that really is a big key.”
Tarleton's Effran Bryant and Corin Henry tallied 22 and 25 points, respectfully, in the second round victory.
“Effran Bryant and Corin Henry are great guards, and we let them get going,” said WTAMU guard Nick Burns. “You can't do that if you are going to win a game against Tarleton.”
The last time two Texans scored 20 points or more in the same game was in an 81-80 win at Abilene Christian on Feb. 10, 2007. Bryant was also involved in that victory, scoring his career-high 23 points as a freshman.
Tarleton held WTAMU to just 23 points from its starters as all three double-digit leaders for the maroon and white came off the bench.
The Texans jumped out to an early lead when Bryant scored the first eight points with two threes and a fastbreak layup off a steal. Tarleton would stretch the lead to 10-2 with two Bryant free throws. Tarleton led 14-5 after a Henry layup and two Wale Ogunoye bonus shots with 11:57 remaining in the first period. The first WTAMU bucket came at the 13:35-mark.
The two teams traded points through the rest of the half as Tarleton led 26-18 with 3:12 on the clock. Ogunoye then had a bucket before Warren Webb got a fastbreak layup off a stolen inbounds pass. Then, Henry had a layup after he grabbed a defensive rebound and went coast-to-coast to put the Texans on top 32-18 with 2:09 remaining in the period.
The Buffs scored the final six points of the first 20 minutes to cut the lead to eight at the break, 32-24.
Tarleton opened the second session with two free throws and a steal and layup by Henry to push the lead to 12. After a Joe Mincey jumper, Jeremiah Wilson had an old-fashioned three-point play to make it 39-26. A Bryant three and a Donta Smith layup sandwiched a Jacquiese Holcombe free throw to make it 44-29 with 16:10 on the clock.
After a Burns bucket, Henry hit a three, Ogunoye had two free throws and Henry had a steal and a layup to give the Texans a 20-point lead with 14:20 on the clock, 51-31. WTAMU would not back down, and the Buffs outscored Tarleton 14-2 over the next four and a half minutes to cut the lead to eight, 53-45.
With 9:05 remaining, Henry nailed a three and was fouled. The Texan junior hit the bonus shot to open a 14-5 run by the Texans that put Tarleton back on top by double digits, 67-50 with 4:07 remaining. Then, a barrage of threes were buried by the Buffs as WTAMU hit four threes in the final 1:48, but the Texans connected on 11-of-12 free throws attempted down the stretch. The Buffs fouled to stop the clock, and Tarleton sealed the victory by converting from the line as the Texans took the 82-68 win.
Also scoring in double figures for Tarleton was Ogunoye (11) and Devon Hills (10). Henry led the team with eight rebounds as the Texans outrebounded the opponent 32-28.
Tarleton averaged .457 from the floor (21-46), .333 from the arc (5-15) and .814 from the charity stripe (35-43).
WTAMU was led by Holcombe and LaDarius Hall with 14 point apiece and Alex Davis with 13. Bijan Dotson had eight boards to lead the Buffs.
WTAMU shot .489 from the field (23-47), .316 from the arc (6-19) and .667 from the line (16-24). Tarleton outscored the Buffs 32-26 in the paint, 21-6 off turnovers and 14-7 in fastbreak points.
The Texans will now face Midwestern State in the tournament final at 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 6. The Mustangs took both meetings earlier this season, and Reisman said it won't be easy on Saturday either.
“Midwestern State has been the class of the South Division the last two years,” Reisman said. “When we played them in Wichita Falls, it was a close ballgame. We look forward to the challenge. We know we are the underdog, but we will do the best we can to play hard and see if we can pull an upset.”
The game will be broadcast on KSTV 93.1 FM.
