Box Score KINGSVILLE, Texas – Tarleton State's De'Andre Upchurch scored a career-high 27 points while pacing the No. 9-ranked Texans to a 103-84 win over Texas A&M-Kingsville at the Stienke Center in Kingsville on Saturday.
 
The Texans improved to 13-0 overall and 2-0 in Lone Star Conference play, while the Javelinas dropped to 5-9 on the season and 0-2 in league play.
 
The win extends Tarleton's best start in school history to 13 straight games without a loss and it also marks the team's first official road-win of the season as well.
 
The Texans moved to 723-724 all-time and are now just one more win away form becoming a .500 team for the first time in over 40 years.
 
The Texans opened the game with a 12-2 run and then later made it a 17-7 contest with a three-pointer from Chuck Guy. Tarleton would keep at least an eight-point lead for the next few minutes before TAMUK's Irvin Hollinger made it a 23-17 game with his free throw at the 8:55 mark.
 
TAMUK would later pull within a point of the Texans on an old-fashioned three-point play from Ronald Scott. His lay-up and free throw would make it a 28-27 game in favor of the Texans with 6:50 remaining in the half.
 
The Texans lead was still just one point with 4:46 left, up 33-32, but Tarleton managed to close out the half with a 15-7 run and take a 48-39 lead into the break.
 
Upchurch scored 22 points in the first half alone – just one point off of his career high of 23 points that he scored earlier this season against Oklahoma Panhandle State. The senior guard was 7-for-8 from the field and a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe in the first 20 minutes of play.
 
Both teams combined to commit 31 fouls that sent Tarleton to the free throw line 21 times, while the Javelinas tallied 14 attempts from the stripe. Tarleton converted 13 of its attempts for an 85.7 percent effort and TAMUK tallied 10 made free throws for a 71.4 percentage.
 
The Texans opened the second half making three of its first four shots from downtown to build a 59-44 lead, but TAMUK came right back with a 9-2 run to make it a 61-53 game before Guy halted the run with a pair of free throws with 11:45 remaining in the game.
 
Both team would then trade buckets and points over the course of the next seven minutes with neither team making more than two consecutive buckets during a run. Davene Carter would break that mold though when his dunk at the 2:56 mark which sparked a 18-9 run that the Texans ended the game on en route to the 103-84.
 
Tarleton eclipsed the 100-point mark for the fourth time this season, marking the first time in the Lonn Reisman era that a Texan team has done so in more than three games.
 
Upchurch finished shooting 8-for-12 from the field and he was a perfect 8-for-8 from the charity stripe. After finishing the first half as the only Texan in double-figures, Tarleton managed to end the game with five players posting double-digits.
 
Guy finished with 18 and Carter tallied 13 points, while Coleman Furst registered his highest point total since the first game of the season with 12 points. Emmanuel Andrews came off the bench for the Texans and poured in 10 points on the day as well.
 
Jon Cathey-Macklin led the squad with eight rebounds and he tallied a block as well.
 
The Texans shot 60 percent or better from the field for the third time this season, finishing the game with a 60.5 percent effort, which included shooting 58.8 percent from beyond the arc.
 
The Javelinas were led by Adonis Bailey's 17 points and Rashad Basey's 14 points. 
 
The Texans will remain away form Wisdom Gym for its next contest as the team travels to Wichita Falls this coming Wednesday, Jan. 15 to face Midwestern State. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. inside D.L. Ligon Coliseum.