STEPHENVILLE – No. 6 Tarleton State dominated Paul Quinn in a 100-65 rout Monday night to start the season 8-0 for the second consecutive year.
 
Michael Hardge and Davene Carter opened the game with an alley-oop slam just 32 seconds into the game to get the Texans on the board and start a 10-2 run. Paul Quinn made a slight run to pull within one at 12-11 but a Damion Clemons layup turned the tide for Tarleton for good.
 
The Clemons bucket pushed the lead to 14-11 and was the first of a 25-5 Tarleton run that gave the Texans their first 20-point lead of the night at 37-16 with 7:09 left in the opening half.
 
Over the rest of the first half, Tarleton outscored the Tigers 18-7 and went into the break with a 55-23 lead. Hardge hit the game's first 3-pointer with two seconds left in the half to push Tarleton's lead over the 30-point mark.
 
In the second half, Tarleton State's dominance continued as the Texans never led by less than 28 or more than 38 during the final 20 minutes of action.
 
Davene Carter recorded his sixth career double-double with 19 points and 13 rebounds to lead the way in both categories for Tarleton. Malcolm Hamilton and EJ each cracked double figures off the bench with 15 points while Hardge tallied 14 to go along with six assists.
 
Clemons added eight points while Nosa Ebomwonyi scored seven. Deshawn Riddick (5), TaShawn Mabry (4), Mo Lee (4), Jakob Damstra (4), Jacob Morales (3) and Mercedes Lane (2) rounded out the Texan scoring.
 
As a team, Tarleton shot 54 percent from the field and 27 percent from downtown while allowing Paul Quinn to shoot 46 percent from the field and 35 percent from beyond the arc. The Texans outscored the Tigers 72-22 in the paint and 52-8 off the bench.
 
Tarleton will head to Las Vegas this week for their first action away from Wisdom Gym when they compete in the South Point Holiday Hoops Classic. The Texans will begin the tournament against Western Washington Thursday and wrap up with No. 13 Drury Friday.