Box Score STEPHENVILLE, Texas – The Tarleton Texans limited Midwestern State to just one field goal over the final six and a half minutes and outscored the Lone Star Conference-leading Mustangs 23-8 during that stretch en route to a 75-60 win Saturday night at Wisdom Gym in Stephenville.
 
With the win, the Texans move to 16-8 overall and are now in a tie for third-place in the conference with Incarnate Word after the Cardinals fell to Eastern New Mexico earlier today. The Mustangs two game lead over Cameron shrank to just a game and are now 18-7 overall and 14-4 in league play.
 
“I am very proud of these young men and the way they played tonight,” Tarleton head coach Lonn Riesman said. “These guys battled very hard tonight after losing a heartbreaker at Cameron on Wednesday. They showed the kind of character that they have, coming into a big game like this and performing the way they did. We are 8-2 in our last 10 games and both losses came at the very end, but this team never wavered. They refuse to give in.
 
Brian Word (G, Sr, Baltimore, Md.) got the game started with a three-pointer, and then later at the 16:36 mark, Jon Cathey-Macklin (F, Jr, Milwaukee, Wis.) dunked the ball to cap off Tarleton's 7-0 to begin the game.
 
MSU finally ended the run with a three-pointer from Derrell Gibbs, but the Texans got back to a seven point lead with a free throw from Michael Hardge (G, Fr, Georgetown) at the 14:18 mark, which made it an 11-4 game.
 
Tarleton went up by as many as nine points with 9:00 left in the first half on a dunk from Damion Clemons (F, So, Dallas). MSU countered with a 4-0 run and made it a 19-14 game still in favor of the Texans with 8:11 left in the half.
 
Both teams traded empty possessions over the next three minutes until Cathey-Macklin got the Texans back on the board at the 5:14 mark with a jumper from outside the elbow just as the shot clock was about to expire. His field goal though turned out to be Tarleton's last field goal of the first 20 minutes and the Mustangs responded with a 17-8 run to close the half and take a 31-29 lead into the break.
 
MSU would go up by as many as six points, up 38-32 with 16:26 left to play in the game, but the Texans got back to within a point on another crowd-pleasing dunk with 15:13 left to play. The Mustangs countered with a basket at the other end before Cathey-Macklin poured in a pair of free throws to make it a 40-39 game in favor of the visiting team.
 
Tarleton again found themselves down by six with the score 50-44 at the 8:36 mark, but a 6-0 run tied the game at 50-50 when De'Andre Upchurch (G, Jr, Flint, Mich.) went to the basket for a layup and was fouled on the play. He tied the game with his three-point-play and then put the Texans up 52-50 with another layup at the 6:51 mark.
 
The teams then traded baskets and the score was tied 54-54 until Coleman Furst (G, Jr, Denison) sank a three-pointer with just over five minutes left to play. MSU was fouled at the other end of the floor, but managed to make just one of the two shots from the free throw line and Clemons countered with a layup at Tarleton's end of the floor to go up 59-55.
 
Chuck Guy (G, Jr, Fort Worth) converted both of his free throw attempts with 3:36 left to play to extend Tarleton's lead to 61-55 and then following an empty possession on the other end for MSU, Furst sank both of his free throw attempts with 2:48 left to make it an eight point game.
 
Tarleton held the Mustangs to just one field goal over the final 6:34 and outscored the visiting team 23-8 during that span. The Texans finished the final 2:30 with a 14-4 run and earn the 15-point victory over the conference leaders.
 
The 15-point win gives the Mustangs its first double-digit loss of the season.
 
Tarleton had five players score in double figures on Saturday with Upchurch leading the way with a career-high 23 points. Cathey-Macklin followed with 14 points and Clemons poured in 11 points. Guy and Furst both had 10 points each in the win.
 
Cathey-Macklin led the Texans on the boards with eight rebounds and he tallied a game-high three blocks as well.
 
Tarleton had just six turnovers in the game and forced MSU to 12 turnovers. The Texans countered with 14 points off those turnovers in the game.
 
The Texans shot 46.7 percent from the field and were 29-for-39 (74.4%) from the free throw line. MSU shot 39.1 percent from the field on the evening.
 
The Texans will host Eastern New Mexico this Wednesday for the team's final home game of the regular-season. Tarleton will honor the team's lone senior, Brian Word, before the game. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m. inside Wisdom Gym.