- Box Score
STEPHENVILLE – The No. 25 Tarleton Texans claimed its 16th straight home win dating back to last season when they knocked off No. 23 West Texas A&M on Wednesday in Wisdom Gym to clinch a spot in the Lone Star Conference postseason tournament with a 47-42 victory.
The Texans got off to a rough start by scoring just three points in the first 11 minutes of the first half, but Tarleton battled back to take a 22-14 lead at halftime.
“This is the same game that we had up there,” said Tarleton head coach Lonn Reisman. “When we play West Texas A&M, it is not going to be a pretty game. There are two teams that bounce each other off the floor and play tough. We knew it was going to be a possession-by-possession game, and I am proud that our kids played their hearts out.”
The Texans shot 42.9 percent from the floor and held the Buffaloes to just 32.6 percent while forcing 18 turnovers.
“I thought our defense played well tonight,” Reisman said. “We still have a long way to go, and we are just taking it game-by-game. We know we have to play hard every night in this conference. This was a total team effort.”
The Buffaloes jumped out to an eight-point lead (11-3) with 9:26 remaining in the first half. The only points for Tarleton came from a jumper by Carrington Tankson and a free throw by Corin Henry. The Texans' Nick Mosley had a layup at 9:09 to break a 9:26-drought before Henry had a jumper. Tarleton pulled within two with another Henry jumper at 6:24 to make it 11-9. Jacquiese Holcombe had a three at 4:20 to stretch the lead to five before Coleman Furst nailed his own from the top of the key to make it 14-12 28 seconds later.
Wilson then tied the game at 14 at 3:07 with a putback before Henry gave the Texans the lead at 2:48. Henry added a jumper 18 seconds later after a Hills steal. Henry added a layup after a Devon Hills steal that he threw behind his back to Henry for the fastbreak bucket. With eight seconds left in the half, Henry added two free throws to give Tarleton a 22-14 advantage. Tarleton outscored the opponent 19-3 in the last 9:09 of the half.
Donta Smith and Lionel Foster traded layup before Smith had a layup and Mason White had a jumper all in the first minute and a half of the second period. With Tarleton up 26-18, Rod Little hit a three before Wilson got a layup. David Henderson then hit a three to cut the lead to 28-24 with 17:06 on the clock.
Little had a free throw for the Buffs before Tankson added two of his own on the opposite end. Hills then had a layup after Henry had a steal and an outlet pass to the Texan senior. At 11:55, Joe Mincey had a jumper to cut the score to 32-27. Mincey then had a free throw followed by a three to cut the lead to one, 32-31.
Tankson had a layup at 10:03 for Tarleton before Henry found Smith on an inbounds pass under the Tarleton basket for a slam dunk. LaDarius Hall had a free throw before Little had a jumper to make it 36-34 with 7:53 on the clock. Hills then had a three for the Texans, but Foster had a jumper with 7:18 remaining in the half to cut the lead to three, 39-36.
A free throw by Hills was followed by a dunk by Smith on a pass from Henry that put Tarleton up by six. Foster then had a free throw before Smith had a layup for Tarleton to make it 44-37 with 3:55 on the clock.
Courtney Carr hit a jumper to cut the lead to five before Foster had a free throw. Mincey did the same to make it 44-41 at 1:56. Wilson had a free throw 30 seconds later to make it 45-41 at 1:26.
Foster hit the first and missed the second free throw, and Hills got the defensive board and was fouled with 36.17 seconds on the clock. He hit first, but missed the second and WTAMU got the rebound. A missed three was pulled in by Hills on the opposite end, and he was fouled with 24.61 remaining. He hit the first and missed the second, but it was the last point scored as Smith got a defensive rebound on a missed three by Mincey. Tarleton won 47-42.
Henry led the team with 13 points while Smith had 10. Henry, Hills and Wilson had six rebounds to all tie for the team lead.
Tarleton shot .143 from the three-point arc (2-14) and .563 from the charity stripe (9-16).
WTAMU was led by Foster and Mincey with nine points while Carr led the team with seven rebounds.
The Buffs averaged .326 from the field (15-46), .235 from the arc (4-17) and .444 from the line (8-18).
Tarleton outscored the Buffs 26-16 in the paint, but WTAMU had 25 points off 20 turnovers by the Texans.
Tarleton will return to action on Saturday, Feb. 19 at 3 p.m. in Kingsville against Texas A&M-Kingsville.
