STEPHENVILLE – A 26-point effort from Mo Lee powered No. 11 Tarleton State to a 65-55 win over Eastern New Mexico at Wisdom Gym Saturday night.
 
This win pushed Tarleton to its 11^th straight victory, which is the second longest of the season behind the 12-game winning streak Tarleton had to open the season 12-0. Over the last 11 games, Lee has topped the 20-point plateau six times.
 
After Eastern New Mexico scored first, Michael Hardge got Tarleton on the board with a pair of free throws to begin a back-and-forth battle over the opening 12 minutes of the game that resulted in a 10-10 tie down to the 7:53 mark.
 
Lee hit a stop-and-pop 3-ball off a pass from Hardge to break the tie and give Tarleton the last lead it would need for the night.
 
The Lee triple was followed up by a long ball from Nosa Ebomwonyi for six unanswered Tarleton points and the Texans maintained its advantage – despite Eastern New Mexico pulling as close as three on two different occasions – for the remainder of the first half and went into the break with a 26-21 lead.
 
In the first half, Tarleton was 6-14 from the floor including a 5-12 mark from downtown.
 
The Tarleton lead held steady over the first five minutes as the Texans held on to a 38-33 advantage, but a Hardge layup put Tarleton up by seven at 40-33 and jumpstarted the offense to the tune of an 11-4 run over the next 6:30 to push the lead to 15 with 8:27 left in the game.
 
Tarleton pushed the lead to as many as 17 and never led by less than nine over the rest of the game en route to the double-figure win.
 
Lee scored his 26 points on 8-12 shooting from the field, including 2-4 from downtown, and 8-11 at the charity stripe to go along with six rebounds, two blocks, an assist and a steal. Behind Lee was a trio of Texans with eight points – Ebomwonyi, Hardge and Damion Clemons. EJ Reed and TaShawn Mabry each scored five while Hamilton (3) and Davene Carter (2) rounded out the Tarleton scoring.
 
Clemons nearly recorded a double-double with a team-high nine rebounds as the Texans won the battle of the boards 34-25, including 27-17 on the defensive glass.
 
Tarleton State will head to McMurry Wednesday night in an 8 p.m. game against the Warhawks in Abilene before returning home next Saturday for the regular season finale against Texas A&M-Commerce. With a win by Cameron Saturday night, Tarleton State will secure at least a share of the LSC Championship with a win over Commerce in the finale.