STEPHENVILLE – The No. 8 Tarleton Texan basketball team took on No. 11 Central Oklahoma and handled the bright lights of the main stage as the Texans defeated the Bronchos, 87-65.  In a game that saw Chris Harrell go for 28 points in just the second start of his career and too many technical fouls to count, Tarleton defeated UCO for the first time in eight games.

Tarleton did not start off on the greatest of notes as Central Oklahoma got to start the game with two free throws due to a technical foul in pregame warm-ups.  The visiting Bronchos got a two-point head start before tip-off even took place.

Once the game got officially under way, it did not take long for Tarleton to take back the lead with Chris Harrell hitting a three at the 18:46 mark to make up for his pregame snafu. From there the Texans jumped out to an early 13-4 lead by the first media time out.

Tarleton was lead in large part by Harrell, who managed to make the majority of his first half shots.  At the break, the senior guard went 4-for-5 through the first 20 minutes with 14 points to lead all scorers.

The Texans took the 13-4 lead and extended over the final 10 minutes of the first half.  Tarleton pushed their lead to as high as 12-points when they lead UCO 29-17 at the 4:24 mark.  They took that 12-point deficit and finished the half with the same advantage.

The No. 8 Texans entered the half with a 34-22 advantage over their former LSC foes in UCO.

Harrell had 14 points to lead the way, while Warren Webb added six points and three rebounds.  Defensively, Shedrick Haynes, Harrell and Zach Nelson all had two steals in the first half.  Fabian Wilson, the reigning LSC Defensive Player of the Week, had four rebounds, three of which came on the defensive end of the floor.

Overall, Tarleton shot 50.0 percent from the floor and held the Bronchos to 26.9 percent from the field.  The Texans also hit 84.6 percent of their free throw attempts and 37.5 percent from three-point land.  UCO only shot 16.7 percent from three's as well.

The second half was all Tarleton once again as the Texans jumped out to a commanding lead, adding to their initial 12-point advantage.  Despite getting out-played on the defensive end on the floor, the Bronchos did their best to remain within striking distance of the Texans.

UCO cut the lead down to nine at 39-30 with 17:40 to go in the game, but Tarleton turned around and put together a 9-0 run over the next two minutes.  During that time, things started to get chippy.

Frustrated and down double-digits, the Bronchos turned to a couple of dirty plays to try and draw retaliation from the Texans.  A couple of technical fouls by UCO and a technical foul on the bench gave Tarleton a couple of free points with free throws. 

That was not what the visiting Bronchos wanted to do though, as Tarleton converted on 34 of their 42 free throws on the night.

The Texans continued to get in the heads of UCO, which led to more hard fouls and more technicals.  In all, the Bronchos finished the game with five technical fouls on players, one on the bench and a few flagrant and intentional fouls to top things off.  Tarleton had two techinals in the game, with the other coming on Fabian Wilson in the second half.

That amount of technical fouls only begin to describe the aggressiveness and tenacity of the contest.

With a comfortable lead and the momentum in their favor, Tarleton cruised to the 87-65 victory.  It marked the 19-straight home win and the first over UCO in the past eight games.

The Texans shot 59 percent from the floor and 81 percent from the charity stripe.  UCO on the other hand shot 40 percent from the field and just 57.7 percent from the free-throw line.

Harrell made just his second start of his career and finished with 28 points on 6-of-8 shooting.  The Elgin native also hit 13 of his 15 free throws.  Warren Webb added 13 points for Tarleton, while Demerius Smith and Zach Nelson contributed 10 points each off the bench.  Nelson also grabbed a team-high seven boards.  Shedrick Haynes recorded six points and five assists as the main facilitator.

The Bronchos were led by Tyler Phillips, who had 20 points, and Johnny Stephene, who had 14 points.

Head Coach Lonn Reisman talked about his team's effort after the game.

“We have had some big leads in the past and they have dissipated,” said Reisman.  “Tonight, we were able to keep attacking and not settle for the lead.  I thought every player gave their all tonight.  We wanted to be aggressive and I thought we were.  We executed our game plan and that's why we were successful.”

The Texans improve to 3-0 on the year and will face Washburn at 7 p.m. on Saturday as the final game of the Texan Tip-Off Classic.  Central Oklahoma faces Cameron at 5 p.m. to start the night in Wisdom Gym.

For more information regarding the 2011-12 Tarleton men's basketball season, check out TarletonSports.com.