Box Score STEPHENVILLE, Texas – Tarleton State's Chuck Guy scored a season-high 26 points while guiding the Texans to an 87-70 win over the St. Edward's Hilltoppers in the first game of the 2013 Texan Tip-Off Classic sponsored by Whataburger Friday night at Wisdom Gym in Stephenville.
 
Guy scored 16 of his points from the free throw line on Friday and went 5-of-10 from the field to come within three points of tying his career-high of 29 points.
 
The Texans (2-0) shot 53.1 percent (26-49) from the field and were 33-of-37 (.892) from the charity stripe in the contest. The Hilltoppers (2-1) managed to shoot 42.6 percent (20-47) from the field, but were just 25-of-34 (.735) from the free throw line on Friday.
 
The Texans took a 46-33 lead into halftime with Guy scoring 14 of his 26 points in the first half.
 
The two teams committed 29 fouls combined in just the first half alone, sending both squads to the line a total of 38 times. The Texans missed just one free throw attempt in the half, going 20-for-21 (.952) at the charity stripe, while the Hilltoppers made 13-of-17 (.765).
 
Guy led all players at the break with 14 points after going 3-for-4 from the field and a perfect 8-for-8 from the charity stripe. #De'Andre Upchurch followed with 11 points as he went 2-for-5 from the field and 6-for-6 from the free throw line.
 
The Texans shot 52.2 percent from the floor over the course of the first 20 minutes, making 12 of its 23 field goal attempts, which included a 2-for-5 (.400) effort from beyond the arc. SEU shot just 34.6 percent from the field on 9-of-26 shooting, but the Hilltoppers managed to go into the break shooting 50.0 percent from the three-point line on 2-of-4 shooting.
 
Tarleton had 12 turnovers in the first half, but the Hilltoppers managed to score just two points off those miscues. Meanwhile, the Texans scored four points off nine SEU turnovers.
 
SEU came out of the break on a 5-2 run, but the Texans went on a 13-5 run and extended its lead to 61-43 with a little over 12 minutes left to play in the second half. The Hilltoppers managed to cut the deficit to just 12 points on a three-pointer from Zach Ghormley with 7:58 left in the game, but Tarleton's Jon Cathey-Macklin tipped in one of his three offensive rebounds at the 5:37 mark to give the Texans a 78-59 advantage.
 
The Texans took a 20-point lead on a pair of free throws from Guy with 4:00 left to play before SEU got it back down to a 17-point game with 2:30 left to play.
 
The Texans committed just four turnovers in the second half and transitioned SEU's 11 turnovers in the final 20 minutes into eight points.
 
Upchurch finished the game with 17 points and Davene Carter added 14 more for the Texans. Tashawn Mabry poured in 10 points for the Texans off the bench.
 
Cathey-Macklin led all players with nine rebounds and Guy had a game-high three assists.
 
The Texans out-rebounded the visiting team 36-21 and had three blocks on the night as well.
 
James Stukes led the Hilltoppers with 16 points on Friday and Ethan Gilbert followed with nine.
 
The Texans will close-out the Tip-Off Classic tomorrow evening against Bloomfield. The Deacons lost to A&M-Commerce earlier in the day, 101-89. Tip-off between the two teams is set for 7 p.m.