Box Score PORTALES, N.M. – Tarleton State's De'Andre Upchurch scored a career-high 38 points, while the third-ranked Texans managed to fend off a second half rally and down the Eastern New Mexico Greyhounds 92-82 Saturday evening at Greyhound Arena.
Chuck Guy scored 24 points to go along with Upchurch's career-night and the Texans improved to 23-1 overall with a 12-1 mark in Lone Star Conference play, which clinches at least a share of the league title with just one conference game left to play this season.
With at least a share of the LSC title, the Texans claim its third conference championship and second in the past three seasons. Tarleton claimed a share of the 2012 championship and were league champions back in 2004.
Tarleton led 53-38 after the first 20 minutes of play, shooting 64.0 percent from the field with an 87.5 percent effort from beyond the arc. Upchurch scored 23 of his game-high 38 points in the first half, going 8-for-12 from the field and 5-for-6 from downtown.
Upchurch finished the game going 11-for-21 from the field, 5-for-8 from the arc and the senior was a perfect 11-for-11 from the charity stripe.
The Greyhounds, who fell to 13-12 overall and 6-7 in the LSC, opened the second half with a 16-7 run and pulled to within six points of the Texans to make it a 60-54 game with 14:21 left to play.
ENMU would later make it a two-point game on a three-point play from Devone Davis at the 10:07 mark, which made it a 65-63 game, but both teams would combine for just six more points over the next two and a half minutes before a lay-up from Guy put the Texans on top 71-65 with 7:25 remaining on the clock.
A 6-3 run would push the Texans lead back to nine points and the Greyhounds would only manage to get within six points with a little over two minutes left to play. Tarleton would extend its lead to 12 points with 23 seconds remaining before Rodney Blackmon poured in ENMU's final bucket of the game and finish with a 10-point defeat to the No. 3-ranked team in the nation.
The Texans shot just 32.1 percent from the field in the second half, but a 19-for-23 effort from the charity stripe helped clinch both the road victory and the LSC title.
Upchurch added to his all-around night with a career-high 10 boards to finish with his first-ever double-double and the Texans finished the game out-rebounding the Greyhounds 39-31. His 38-point effort is tied for seventh-most all-time in a single game and he became the first Texan to pour in 30 points or more since John Davis recorded 34 points back on Jan. 31, 2007 against Angelo State.
ENMU finished the game shooting 48.3 percent from the field, but was just 4-for-22 from the three-point line and 20-for-31 from the charity stripe. The Greyhounds bettered the Texans in points in the paint (44-30), second-chance points (13-11) and bench points (40-18), but the home squad never had a scoring lead in the contest.
The Texans will return home to face Lubbock Christian on Tuesday in the team's final regular-season home contest. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. inside Wisdom Gym.
