Box Score LAS VEGAS, Nev. – The No. 11-ranked Tarleton State Texans snapped a two-game losing streak to nationally ranked top-10 teams, downing the No. 5-ranked Western Washington Vikings 86-69 in the final game of the South Point Holiday Hoops Classic in Las Vegas, Nev., on Sunday.
 
The Texans improved to 10-0 on the season for the first time under head coach Lonn Reisman and in the senior college era, while the Vikings dropped its second contest in-a-row to move to 8-2 overall.
 
"We knew coming out here that we were going to play some very good competition," said Reisman. "To come out here and play the way we played, prepare the way we prepared, stay focused at a time when these kids are thinking about final grades, the holidays coming up, being thousands of miles away form home – I thought I saw a great work ethic and maturity and concentration over these last two games."
 
Davane Carter led the Texans with 20 points and Chuck Guy added 19 points while the team shot 49.0 percent from the field in the 17-point victory. Carter was 9-for-12 from the field and had seven rebounds on his way to being named to the all-tournament team. Guy, meanwhile, was a perfect 13-for13 from the charity stripe and he dished out five assists as well.
 
The Texans took a three-point lead into the break after pouring in 38 points and holding the Vikings to just 35 points on the other side of the court. Tarleton capitalized on WWU's miscues in the first half, scoring 13 points off nine Viking turnovers.
 
The Vikings won the battle of the boards in the first half, out-rebounding the Texans 20 to 14 and then out-scoring Tarleton 8 to 6 in second-chance points, but Tarleton countered at the free throw line, going 10-for-12 from the charity stripe for a five-point swing in that category.
 
The Vikings jumped out to an early 4-0 lead before Guy put the Texans on the board with a pair of free throws. WWU would then take a 6-2 lead before a 4-0 run tied the game. There would be five more lead changes over the next eight minutes of play until Tarleton took a 19-16 lead on a three-pointer from De'Andre Upchurch with a little more than nine minutes to play in the half.
 
Guy would score eight of Tarleton's next 11 points and led late in the half, 30-25. Emmanuel Andrews would then hit a three-pointer to take an eight-point lead, but WWU's Anye Turner scored back-to-back buckets to make it a four-point game, 33-29.
 
The Texans then went on a 5-1 run and led 38-30 before the Vikings came back with a jumper from Alfred Davis, and then a three-pointer from Jeffery Parker at the 2.9 second mark. Tarleton would not get the in-bounds pass in time to make desperation three at the buzzer, but did take the three-point lead into the break.
 
The Texans shot 48.0 percent from the field and 40.0 percent from downtown, while WWU shot 43.3 percent from the field and a 50.0 percent effort from beyond the arc.
 
The Texans and Vikings came out of the break, matching bucket-for-bucket until WWU went on a 7-3 run to tie the game 49-49 at the 14:30 mark of the second half.
 
WWU would then go nearly 10 minutes without a field goal, making all of its next 14 points from the free throw line only, while Tarleton slowly built a 10-point lead, up 73-63. WWU's Richard Woodworth would finally give the Vikings its first field goal at the 4:53 mark as he extended a 4-0 run with his lay-up to make it a 73-65 game.
 
Guy would then make a pair of free throws in consecutive possessions and Carter followed with a pair of free throws to extend Tarleton's lead to 79-65 with 3:41 left to play. The Texans would then get more free throws from Andrews and Michael Hardge closed out the victory with a lay-up to make it an 86-69 final.
 
The Texans were 25-for-51 from the field and 30-for-37 from the free throw line in the game. WWU did out-rebound the Texans 35-27, but Tarleton forced 20 turnovers and limited themselves to just 12 miscues.
 
Andrews scored a career-high 18 points off the bench for the Texans and Lee added 12 points as well. Tarleton outscored the Vikings 42-13 in bench points and scored a total of 22 points off Viking turnovers.
 
The Vikings were led by Robert Harris' 17 points and Austin Bragg's game-high eight rebounds. Harris was 6-for-10 from the field and 3-for-6 from downtown.
 
The Texans will have 13 days off until its next contest when they will host South Dakota Mines at Wisdom Gym on Saturday, Jan. 4 at 7 p.m.