Box Score STEPHENVILLE, Texas – Tarleton's Brian Word (G, Sr, Baltimore, Md.) scored 18 of his 21 points in the second half to help lead the Texas to a 77-71 win over the visiting Incarnate Word Cardinals at Wisdom Gym Saturday night.
 
Word got even going with a quick three-pointer for the Texans, but UIW came right back four consecutive points to take its first lead of the game, and in a first half that saw three ties and 10 lead changes total.
 
The Cardinals later vaulted out to a three-point lead on a layup from Dionelle Rucker at the 14:26 mark in the first period, but Chuck Guy (G, Jr, Fort Worth) would hit his first of two first-half trey's with 12:34 left to give the Texans a 16-15 lead.
 
Rucker later poured in layup with 8:36 left to give UIW a 23-22 advantage, but that would turn out to be the last time in the half that the Cardinals would lead.
 
The Cardinals fell behind by six points at the 5:58 mark when Guy scored another bucket, but UIW managed to get back within a point of the home following a 5-0 run. Tarleton came right back though, closing out the half on an 8-2 run to take a 37-30 lead into the half.
 
The Texans opened the second half with a 13-2 run and pushed its lead to 50-32 before the Cardinals managed to make its first field goal coming out of the halftime break. UIW finally snapped its dry spell with a jumper from Rucker with 14:31 remaining in the contest, which cut it to just a 16-point Texans lead.
 
The Cardinals came right back with a 17-3 run, and just after being down by 16 points, the Cardinals had pulled within three points of the Texan down just 53-50 with 7:18 left in the game.
 
The Texans finally snapped out of its no field goals made streak with a three-pointer from Word, who went on to score eight of Tarleton's next points and going up 63-54 with less than five minutes to go.
 
The two teams would trade baskets with each other down the stretch until UIW was finally forced to foul in the last minute and a half to play. Tarleton managed to go 5-for-8 from the charity stripe in the waning moments and the Texans picked up its Lone Star Conference Tournament-clinching victory, 77-71.
 
The Texans moved to 15-7 overall on the season and 8-6 in LSC play. The Cardinals fell to 12-10 overall following its season-long fourth loss in a row. UIW is now tied with the Texans at 8-6 in league play. Both teams are currently in a tie for third place in the conference.
 
Guy recorded his sixth 20-point game of the season with his 23 points. Word was behind him with his 21 points and Furst tallied 10 points as well.
 
Cathey-Macklin recorded seven blocks on the night, coming just one block shy of tying the all-time school record of eight blocks set by Vincent Bridgewater back in 2003.
 
The Texans shot 50.9 percent from the field and were 8-for17 from behind the three-point line.
 
The Texans return to action next Wednesday with a road contest at Cameron. The Texans and Aggies will tip-off at 8 p.m. on Wednesday in Lawton, Okla.