STEPHENVILLE – Seniors TaShawn Mabry and Mo Lee combined for 22 points over the final nine minutes of the game to lead No. 15 Tarleton State over West Texas A&M 76-71 Wednesday night in Wisdom Gym.
 
The Buffs took a 59-53 lead over Tarleton when the nine-minute mark struck before Mabry got the rally started with a tip-in, a block on the defensive end and the rebound that led to a fast break bucket for Lee off an assist from Michael Hardge to cut the deficit to two points.
 
After a West Texas A&M 3-ball on the next possession pushed the lead back to 62-57, Lee connected on a corner 3-ball and back-to-back free throws to tie the game at 62-62.
 
Mabry broke the tie with an old-fashioned 3-point play for the first of nine straight Tarleton points, all from the senior forward, to give the Texans a 71-64 lead with 2:24 left in the game. After a WT bucket, Mo Lee extended the lead to eight with three quick points to all but seal the win for the Texans.
 
The Texans carried the eight-point lead to the final possession when West Texas A&M got a 3-point play with one tick on the clock to bring the game to its final score.
 
Tarleton State got the scoring started with a pair of free throws from Michael Hardge that kick started the Texans to an early 21-12 lead over the Buffs before seven unanswered points pulled the game back to two and started a seesaw affair the rest of the way.
 
After the early nine-point lead, Tarleton led by as many as eight over the rest of the first half and never by less than three, taking a 39-34 advantage into the break. The game continued to hang in the balance with Tarleton never leading by more than seven while West Texas battled to take the lead before Tarleton's dominance over the final nine minutes.
 
Mabry and Lee each topped the 20-point plateau with 23 and 20, respectively. Mabry was 6-11 from the floor and 8-13 at the charity stripe while Lee was 6-11 from the field and 6-8 at the line. Hardge also added a 14-point effort on a perfect night shooting 3-3 from the field and 8-8 at the line with six assists.
 
EJ Reed added eight while Nosa Ebomwonyi scored six. Davene Carter (3) and Damion Clemons (2) rounded out the Tarleton scoring.
 
As a team, Tarleton shot 54 percent from the field and 40 percent from downtown while holding WT to 39 percent from the floor and just 7-28 shooting beyond the arc.
 
The Texans will return to action Saturday when they head to Eastern New Mexico for a 4 p.m. MST / 5 p.m. CST showdown with the Greyhounds.