Box Score STEPHENVILLE, Texas – The No. 9-ranked Tarleton State Texans extended its best start to a season to 11-0 with a 79-68 non-conference win over South Dakota Mines Saturday night at Wisdom Gym in Stephenville.
 
The Texans extended its win streak to 16 straight games at Wisdom Gym as well and have also won 16 straight contests against non-conference foes dating back to last season. The Hardrockers, meanwhile, dropped to 5-11 overall and fall to 0-1 all-time against the Texans.
 
Chuck Guy paced the Texan offense with a game-high 19 points while going a perfect 10-for-10 from the free throw line and extending his streak to 30 consecutive shots made from the charity stripe.
 
De'Andre Upchurch poured in 15 points and Tashawn Mabry added 12 points off the bench for the Texans. Michael Hardge tied a career-high with 10 points off the bench as well and the Texans finished the game shooting 51.0 percent from the field.
 
Tarleton has shot better than 85 percent from the free throw line as a team in three straight games after finishing Saturday's game with an 88.5 percent (23-26) from the charity stripe.
 
Both teams traded buckets over the first nine minutes of play before Tarleton would go on a 16-2 run from the 11:37 mark to the 4:48 mark to take a 35-19 advantage. Guy later closed out a 21-4 run with a three-pointer that put the Texans up 40-21 and Tarleton would take a 45-27 lead into the half.
 
Tarleton would go up by as many as 23 points with 8:47 left to play and the Hardrockers would not get within 18 points over the first 14 minutes of the second half, but South Dakota Mines managed to trade Tarleton bucket-for-bucket down the stretch and eventually pulled within 12 points, down 75-63 with 1:03 remaining in the game.
 
A 4-0 run would put the Texans back up by 16 points, but the Hardrockers closed out the game with a 5-0 run to finish 11 points behind the home team.
 
Emmanuel Andrews pulled down a career-high five rebounds and led the Texans on the boards, but South Dakota Mines would win the rebounding effort 33-23.
 
Despite turning the ball over 18 times, the Texans managed to force 22 Hardrocker turnovers and score 24 points off those miscues.
 
The Hardrockers finished the game shooting 41.5 percent from the field and were led by Erron Collins' 14 points. Jordan Dick followed with 12 points and Caleb Shockman pulled down a game-high eight rebounds for the visiting squad.
 
Tarleton returns to action this Wednesday, Jan. 8, as the Texans open-up the Lone Star Conference schedule against Angelo State at Wisdom Gym. Tip-off between the Texans and Rams is set for 8 p.m. in Stephenville.