WICHITA FALLS – Tarleton State held Midwestern State scoreless over the final minute as the No. 12 Texans topped No. 23 Midwestern State 58-53 at D.L. Ligon coliseum to earn their second straight road win over a top-25 team.
 
For the Texans, this also marks the third win in six games since 2012 when Tarleton State and Midwestern State take the court as top-25 teams according to the National Association of Basketball Coaches.
 
As per usual when Tarleton State and Midwestern State take the court, the game came down to the final minutes as the teams entered the final 2:30 in a 52-52 deadlock.
 
Mo Lee broke the tie at the 2:17 when the senior guard drained a 14-foot jumper off a pump fake to put the Texans on top for the final time in the game. Malcolm Hamilton struck on the ensuing defensive end by stealing it away from Midwestern and Tarleton converted on the other end when Lee found Mabry for a layup and a four-point lead.
 
Midwestern State hit one free throw on its next possession for its final point as the Texan defense held the Mustangs scoreless over the final 1:15 and added two Lee free throws to bring the game to its final score.
 
After Midwestern State scored the first points of the game, the Tarleton State defense kicked into high gear over the remainder of the half – which started by holding Midwestern State without a point over the next five minutes while the Texans scored seven unanswered to take a 7-2 lead with 14:33 left in the opening half.
 
The Mustangs came back to tie the game at 8-8 but Nosa Ebomwonyi answered the call when the true freshman from Pflugerville got his hands on an offensive rebound and put it right back in to keep the advantage in Tarleton's favor and start a 12-5 Texan run.
 
The run, which was started by the Ebomwonyi tip and capped off by three Ebomwonyi free throws, gave the Texans a 20-13 advantage with 6:40 to play in the opening half.
 
Despite the game coming to a 20-20 tie, Tarleton never trailed over the rest of the opening half and scored the final three points of the half on a Damion Clemons free throw and a TaShawn Mabry jumper to go into the halftime break with a 29-24 lead.
 
Tarleton came out of the break on fire as Mabry hit the first four points and Ebomwonyi drilled a triple to spark a 7-2 Tarleton run to take a game-high lead of 10 points at the 17:25 mark before Midwestern State clawed back to even the game at 52-52 in the final 2:30 of the game.
 
Mabry led the team with 17 points while Lee scored 16, highlighted by a perfect 10-10 at the charity stripe. Ebomwonyi tallied eight points and seven boards in his first game at D. L. Ligon Coliseum and Malcolm Hamilton added seven points off the bench.
 
Clemons (6), Hardge (3) and Reed (1) rounded out the scoring for Tarleton, who shot 34 percent from the floor and 90 percent at the free throw line on 27-30 shooting. The Texans grabbed 37 rebounds, highlighted by the Tarleton guards. Ebomwonyi led all Tarleton rebounders with seven while Lee grabbed six, Hamilton grabbed five and Hardge grabbed four.
 
Tarleton State will return home Saturday night to host Cameron at 7 p.m. in Wisdom Gym.