STEPHENVILLE – No. 9 Tarleton improved to 7-1 and won its third straight game with an 82-73 win over NAIA No. 25 Our Lady of the Lake on Saturday in Wisdom Gym.
 
The Saints came in having scored 136 and 134 points in their last two games and averaged a staggering 106.5 points per game, but the Texans' suffocating defense limited OLLU to 33 points below their average. Opponents are averaging 66.7 points per game against Tarleton.
 
EJ Reed recorded his sixth 20-point game of the season with 25 points on 9-of-11 shooting and added seven rebounds.
 
Tarleton (7-1) led 18-16 and went on a 7-0 run capped off by Malcolm Hamilton's 3-pointer to pad its lead to 25-16 with 8:53 left in the first half. Hamilton scored all 14 of his points in the first half and pulled down 10 rebounds. It's Hamilton's third double-double in four games, all coming since being inserted into the starting lineup.
 
The Texans led 37-25 at the half while holding OLLU to 28 percent shooting and forced the Saints into 10 turnovers that resulted into 12 points for Tarleton. Tarleton went 12-of-14 from the free-throw line in the opening half.
 
In the second half, Tarleton took its biggest lead of the game at 57-41 on Deshawn Riddick's 3-pointer at the top of the arc. OLLU had no answer for Tarleton in the paint as the Texans scored 42 points down low. The high-percentage shots resulted in Tarleton shooting 55.8 percent from the floor, the third straight game shooting over 50 percent.
 
OLLU's ability to shoot the long ball kept the Saints in the game in the second half. The Saints went 8-of-18 on 3-point shots in the second half and 12-of-32 for the game.
 
Charles Hill scored nine points in the final five minutes for Tarleton to help the Texans pull away for the victory. Hill finished with 19 points off the bench for Tarleton, including three of the Texans' seven  3-pointers, and dished out five assists along with grabbing four rebounds.
 
Nosa Ebomwonyi (7), Deshawn Riddick (6) and Xavier Smith (5) helped the Texans scored 37 points off the bench. Riddick also had a career-high four rebounds and matched his career-best with four assists. Smith blocked two shots, giving the junior seven straight games with a block.
 
Michael Hardge, the Lone Star Conference leader in assists with 5.1 per game, had a team-high six assists.
 
Tarleton will take on Texas-Permian Basin on December 14 at 7:30 in Wisdom Gym.