WICHITA FALLS – Midwestern State had won 41-straight games in DL Ligon Coliseum prior to Monday's Lone Star Conference South Division contest, but the magical run came to an end as the No. 25 Tarleton Texans claimed a 49-47 victory to claim the outright title.
The mystique of “Dome Magic” did not deter the Texans as the they improved to 20-4 overall and 11-1 in the South Division because in the words of Pilot they “never believed it's not so.”
Tarleton scored the last five points of the game with a three by Corin Henry to tie the game at 47 with 1:28 left on the clock before the Texan senior nailed a jumper with 19.6 seconds left. MSU had the ball on its end of the floor with 3.0 seconds remaining, and after the inbounds pass, an inlet pass was intercepted by Carrington Tankson to sustain the victory.
“They had won 41 games in a row here, and I thought we had the team that could come in here and compete for this game,” said Tarleton head coach Lonn Reisman. “As exciting as that is, to win the conference championship is even sweeter.
“The South Division championship is so hard to win,” Reisman said. “This is such a grind, and I am so very proud of our kids and the way they fought with character.”
The title is the men's fifth LSC division title (2002, 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2011) as the Texans have claimed their 12th 20-win season under head coach Lonn Reisman, including the eighth in the last 10 seasons, dating back to the 2001-02 campaign.
Tarleton turned the ball over on its first three possessions before missing two shots and turning the ball over two more times. Still, the game was tied until Corin Henry found Wes Dipprey for the games first bucket at 16:22. A three by Michael Loyd, his first of four threes in the first half, gave MSU the lead at 14:45, 3-2.
Nick Mosley then had an alley-oop from Henry and a putback to make it 6-3 Texans with 13:10 remaining in the period before Henry had a jumper 43 seconds later to stretch the lead to five. Darrick Thomas had a jumper in the paint before Chris Hagan had a bucket to cut the lead to one with 10:47 remaining in the half. Loyd connected on another three to put the home team ahead 10-8 with 10:05 on the clock.
Dipprey then hit Donta Smith for a Texan layup before Henry hit a three to make it 13-10 Texans with 8:04 remaining in the opening period. Thmas had a dunk before a Devon Hills three. Thomas and Carrington Tankson traded buckets before Mosley had an old-fashioned three-point play to put Tarleton ahead 21-14 with 4:45 on the clock.
Thomas hit another three before Mosley added a free throw. Loyd then had two free throws and Thomas a three to tie the game at 22 with 2:47 remaining in the period. Tankson had a jumper before Thomas had a free throw. Smith added two more free throws prior to Hagan hitting a jumper before the buzzer to cut the Texan lead to 26-25 at the half.
David Terrell started the second half with a dunk to return the lead to the home team just 25 seconds into the period before Loyd added two free throws to stretch the lead to three, 29-26. Coleman Furst ended a 7:15-drought for Tarleton without a field goal that went back to the 2:32-mark of the first half. Scoob Van Buren then hit a three before Thomas had a jumper to stretch the lead to 36-28 at 13:54.
Dipprey got a bankshot before Terrell had a putback on the opposite end. Fabian Wilson then got a bucket for Tarleton to cut the lead to six, 38-32. Dipprey added two free throws at 10:07 to make it a four-point contest before Furst hit a three from the left corner at 9:18 to make it 38-37. Dipprey then had a layup at 8:20 to give the Texans the 39-38 lead.
Terrell and Loyd then had buckets at 7:53 and 6:11, respectfully, to give MSU a 42-39 advantage. Terrell then had the backend of a two-shot foul to increase the lead to four at 5:36. Tankson had two free throws for Tarleton almost a minute later before he hit a three from the left wing to put Tarletona head 44-43 at 4:01.
Loyd had a bucket for the home team at 2:54 before Terrell had a putback to make it a 47-44 game. Henry tied the game at 47 with a three from the top of the key at 1:28. Henry then hit a jumper at the free throw line to put Tarleton ahead by two (49-47) with 19.6 seconds left. MSU called a timeout with 3.0 seconds left with the Mustangs having the ball on their end of the floor. The inbounds pass came in and was thrown inside, but Tankson got the steal and sealed the Texan victory.
Tarleton was led by Henry with 10 points and six assists as Smith led the team with seven rebounds. Tarleton was outrebounded 29-28 in the contest.
The Texans averaged .419 from the floor (18-43), .250 from the three-point arc (5-20) and .889 from the charity stripe (8-9).
The Mustangs were led by Loyd with 20 points and Terrell with six rebounds.
MSU averaged .391 from the field (18-46), .278 from the arc (5-18) and .429 from the line (6-14).
Tarleton was outscored off the bench 32-18. The Texans turned the ball over 18 times to the Mustangs' 17, but the Texans turned those turnovers into 20 points while MSU had 15. Tarleton came into the game averaging 32 points in the paint, but Tarleton had just 16 on Monday.
The Texans will return to action on Wednesday, Feb. 23 at 8 p.m. when they host Abilene Christian for the final home game of the season in Wisdom Gym.
