SAN ANGELO – No. 3 Tarleton State dropped its first game of the season 78-60 Wednesday night in the Lone Star Conference opener to No. 19 Angelo State in the Junell Center.
 
This was the 800^th game of the storied career of head coach Lonn Reisman and his all-time record as the leader of the Texans is now 570-230 and 179-92 against Lone Star Conference opponents.
 
Angelo State got on the board first with back-to-back buckets but Tarleton State responded quickly with three straight 3-balls from Malcolm Hamilton, Michael Hardge and EJ Reed to give the Texans their biggest lead of the night at 9-4 just 4:18 into the game.
 
However, Tarleton was unable to build on the lead with two turnovers and a missed jumper on its next three possessions as Angelo State retook the lead for the final time of the night with an 8-0 run before a Mo Lee jumper ended the drought.
 
After Angelo State built its lead up to six, Tarleton got another run on a 3-ball from Hamilton and five straight points from TaShawn Mabry to knot the score at 19-19. The game stayed tied until Angelo State broke a 22-22 tie with a 9-0 run to take a 31-22 lead with 3:40 left in the half.
 
The Rams kept the lead at nine before a pair of Teven Jones free throws cut the Tarleton deficit to seven at 28-35 entering the break.
 
Out of the break, Tarleton pulled within six points over the first 5:16 of the fresh half before the Rams pulled away with 12 unanswered points over the next three minutes to lead 54-36. The Texans never got closer than 16 over the rest of the game.
 
Tarleton shot 35 percent from the floor and 38 percent from downtown for the game after shooting an even 50 percent from beyond the arc on 6-12 shooting from deep in the first half. The Texans lost the battle on the boards 39-36, the points in the paint 26-14 and committed 16 turnovers to just nine from Angelo State.
 
Hardge poured in a career-high 17 points while Mabry scored 13 points and grabbed a team-high seven boards. Mo Lee scored eight points off the bench while Hamilton (6), Nosa Ebomwonyi (5), Davene Carter (4), Teven Jones (4) and Reed (3) rounded out the scoring.

This is Tarleton's fourth loss in the last 45 games dating back to the beginning of the 2013-14 season. The Texans are 40-4 for a winning percentage of .910 over that span.
 
Tarleton State will return to action Saturday night in Wisdom Gym against Texas A&M-Kingsville at 7 p.m.