- Box Score
STEPHENVILLE – The lead changed hands 13 times in the second half between the Tarleton Texans and the Texas A&M-Commerce Lions on Monday, and fortunately for the purple and white, Tarleton grabbed the final lead and held on for a 70-66 Lone Star Conference crossover victory.
The Texans trailed by two (60-58) with 5:56 on the clock before Wes Dipprey tied the game at 5:26 and Donta Smith had a putback at 4:09 to give Tarleton the final advantage.
“We are a work in progress, and we haven't played enough games yet to learn everything about ourselves, but I was pleased with tonight's effort,” said Tarleton head coach Lonn Reisman. “This was a quality win against a quality basketball team. A&M-Commerce is a team that will contend for the Lone Star Conference championship. I like the way our kids played tonight, we shared the ball really well, and we played good defense at times.”
The Lions were averaging over 50 percent from the field coming into today's game against the nation's best scoring defense, and Tarleton held the visitors to just 40 percent from the field. The Lions were also averaging 87.4 points per game before tonight when the Texans held the opponent to 17.4 points below the Lions' average.
“I thought we did a really good job executing tonight,” Reisman said. “Wes did a great job tonight, and I know what his potential is, and he hasn't reached it yet. I thought our inside players battled well tonight and did what we needed them to do to win this game. We still have a long way to go, but this was our first real test at home, and probably the best team we have played thus far.”
Dipprey was two rebounds away from a double-double as he recorded eight boards along with his 13 points to lead the big men. Carrington Tankson led the team with 15 points and hit three big threes at critical times during the game.
Only seven points were scored in the first five minutes of the contest as Tarleton trailed 5-2 with 15:28 left with the only basket of the game being a layup at 16:32 by Wale Ogunoye to start the scoring. The Lions led by seven with 10:54 on the clock (14-7), but two free throws by Fabian Wilson and a layup by Dipprey was followed by Ogunoye's second bucket to cut the lead to one at 9:42 (14-13).
The lead returned to five three times over the next three minutes before a three by Darrion Washington at 5:46 and a free shot by Devon Hills cut the lead to 23-22 with 5:03 remaining in the half. After a Desmond King free throw, Dipprey had a free throw and then a steal and a layup to give the Texans a 25-24 advantage at 3:21.
A three by Stefon Carson followed by a jumper from the Lion put the visitors back on top 29-25 with 2:35 remaining in the half, but Smith had a putback. Brad Hambrick then had a three 53 seconds later to put the Lions on top 32-27 at the break.
Tarleton scored the first five points of the second half to tie the game at 32 thanks to a three by Tankson and a layup by Dipprey. Two free throws by Hambrick were followed by a jumper in the paint by Henry to tie the game at 34 with 17:35 remaining in the contest. Tankson had another three to lift the Texans by three (37-34) before King and LaBree Sledge had buckets for the Lions.
The two teams traded leads with neither team leading by more than two points over the next six minutes before a three by Tankson at 11:28, a layup by Dipprey at 10:09 and a layup by Hills at 9:38 put Tarleton ahead by six (54-48). The Lions tied the game at 56 with 7:24 on the clock with two free throws by King.
After the two teams traded buckets, TAMUC took the lead with 5:56 when Preston Whitley had a jumper, but Dipprey tied it 30 seconds later with a putback. Smith then did the same on the return trip to give the Texans a 62-60 advantage with 4:09 on the clock. Tankson had two free throws to make it a four-point game before a free throw by Henry made it 65-60 with 2:38 on the clock.
Dipprey missed a wide-open layup at 2:03 that led to a layup on the opposite end by King to cut the lead to three. Henry had a free throw at 1:15 before Tyris Dowell had a layup to make it 66-64. Tankson had two free throws with 35 seconds remaining to push the lead to four.
With 24.34 seconds remaining, Henry intercepted a pass on the defensive end and was fouled. However, the Texan missed both free throws and Tyris Dowell got a putback on the opposite end with 15.79 seconds left to cut the lead to two. Henry was fouled again at 11.58, and he hit the backend of a two-shot bonus to make it a three-point game. A missed three on the opposite end by Whitley was rebounded by Henry. The senior was again fouled, and he made the first and intentionally missed the second to give the Texans a 70-66 victory.
Henry (11) and Smith (10) were the other Texans in double digits while Tankson, Hills and Smith all had six rebounds for second on the team.
Tarleton averaged .410 from the floor (25-61), .294 from the arc (5-17) and .517 from the charity stripe (15-29).
Dowell led the Lions with 15 points as King (13), Hambrick (11) and Whitley (10) also had double figures. King led the team with 10 rebounds as the Lions outrebounded the home team 43-40.
TAMUC averaged .400 from the field (26-65), .280 from the arc (7-25) and .875 from the line (7-8).
Tarleton will return to action in their second of four games over nine days when it plays at Central Oklahoma on Thursday, Jan. 6. Tip-off in Edmond, Okla. is set for 8 p.m.
