Box Score DENVER, Colo. – Four Tarleton State players scored in double figures, but the Texans fell to Midwestern State, 74-68, in the semifinal round of the South Central Regional Sunday evening at Auraria Event Center in Denver, Colo.
 
Tarleton (28-3) would trail by as many as 16 points in the second half, but would eventually get to within two points of the Mustangs with 47 seconds left to play. MSU (24-7) would run down the clock all the way to 19 seconds before pouring in a lay-up that gave the Mustangs back a four-point lead and then went on to out-score the Texans 7-3 down the stretch.
 
The Texans would take an early 7-3 lead after the first five minutes of play and then after both teams traded buckets until the 10:49 mark, MSU would go up by as many as 15 points with 1:28 left to play.
 
With the Mustangs up 39-24 with less than 1:30 to play, Tarleton's De'Andre Upchurch poured in a lay-up for the Texans, which propelled the No. 2-seed to close-out the half on a 9-0 run. Upchurch would pour in another lay-up at the 54-second mark and then completed the old-fashioned three-point play with a free throw to make it a 39-29 game.
 
Chuck Guy and Tashawn Mabry would sink both of their free throw attempts in the final 30 seconds of the half and MSU's desperation half court shot going into halftime was no good, so the Texans just trailed by six points, down 39-33.
 
The Texans outshot the Mustangs 44.0 percent to 42.4 percent, but MSU was 5-of-6 from beyond the arc, while Tarleton made just three buckets from downtown.
 
Tarleton turned the ball over seven times, but MSU scored just nine points off those turnovers. MSU did however out-rebound the Texans 21-14 in the first half and poured in 10 second-chance points as well.
 
MSU opened the second half with three straight points to take a nine-point lead, but Tarleton came right back with its own three points to get it back to a six-point game. The Mustangs countered though with a 10-0 run and the Texans trailed by 16 points, down 52-36.
 
Tarleton did not score its first field goal of the second half until an Andrews floater fell through at the 12:28 mark, but after his lay-up the Texans scored 12 of the game's next 14 points to pull within six points of the Mustangs, down 54-48 with a little over eight minutes left to play.
 
MSU would come back to extend its lead to 11 points with just over 6:30 left to play until Guy drained a jumper from the elbow to make it a nine-point deficit, 61-52.
 
Tarleton would get it back to within seven points on a pair of free throws from Upchurch and than after MSU sank a pair of free throws, Upchurch came right back with a three-pointer at the 4:12 mark to make it a 57-63 game.
 
MSU countered with a bucket at the other end of the court before Upchurch knocked down a pair of free throws and Guy followed with a three-point play to make it a 65-62 game with less than two minutes to play in regulation.
 
The Mustangs managed to score a quick bucket on its next possession and Guy followed with a free throw to make it a 67-63 game. MSU then turned the ball over on a shot clock violation and Upchruch poured in a lay-up with 46.7 seconds remaining to make it just a two-point deficit.
 
MSU made its next field goal and Guy's hurried lay-up attempt with 15 seconds left was off the mark, forcing the Texans to foul. MSU's Jamichael Rivers sank both of his free throws and Tarleton trailed 71-65 with just 10.8 seconds to play.
 
Mabry nailed a three-pointer with 5.2 seconds left to make it a here-point deficit and MSU's Dejaun Plummer missed his first free throw attempt after the intentional foul.  A technical foul was called on Tarleton following a substitution and Rivers sank both free throws before Plummer would get back to the line for his final attempt.
 
Plummer made his final attempt and Tarleton's in-bounds pass across court was intercepted and MSU came away with the 74-68 win.
 
Upchurch finished with a game-high 23 points to end his career with five straight games of 20 points or more. Guy and Mabry tallied 14 points each and Andrews added 10 points. Mabry added four blocks in the contest as well.
 
After turning the ball over seven times in the first half, Tarleton committed just four turnovers in the final 20 minutes. MSU did come out on top though on the boards, out-rebounding the Texans 49-31.
 
Both teams shot just 37 percent from the field, but MSU edged the Texans at the three-point line, 54 percent to Tarleton's 33 percent effort.
 
The Texans finish the season with the school's best winning percentage (.903) and set new program records in scoring (2,660 points), free throws made (679) and free throws attempted (928). Tarleton's 257 three-pointers made are second most in a single season, just eight shy of the school mark of 265.
 
Tarleton is now 15-11 all-time in NCAA Tournament games following its 12th appearance in the tournament.