SILVER CITY, NM – Twenty-seven days from the 25^th anniversary of Lonn Reisman's only other previous trip to Silver City, New Mexico saw the No. 15 Tarleton Texans earn their first win at Drag's Court against the Mustangs 70-49.
 
Tarleton, who improved to 3-1 all-time against the Mustangs, got their first win over Western New Mexico inside the Mustangs' home gym Thursday night after overcoming a rough first 20 minutes of action that saw the Texans head into halftime up only three at 29-26.
 
"You cannot look at records when you come into someone else's gym," said Reisman in his postgame interview. "Western New Mexico played very hard all night long. We went in at halftime and made some adjustments. I think when we came back out we ran our offense better, we got the ball in the paint, and we finally started rebounding. Also, the big thing tonight was that we only had eight turnovers."
 
After the opening 4:19 of the new half, Tarleton started to look like the typical Texans – starting with a bucket by Romond Jenkins in the paint to put Tarleton up 34-31. Denzel Smith and Deshawn Riddick answered with a jumper and three-ball, respectively, on the next two offensive possessions to extend Tarleton's lead to a game-high eight with 13:04 left in the game.
 
Western New Mexico got a three on its end to pull back within five, but a Josh Hawley triple got the Tarleton train rolling and it wouldn't be stopped. The Hawley three-ball was the first of four straight three-pointers – one each from Smith, Kealon Clayborne, and Riddick – to push the Texan lead up to 17 with 8:36 left to play.
 
Western hit a pair of free throws to pull within 15 on the next possession but that is as close as they would get as Tarleton went on to extend the lead to as many as 25 points with three minutes left in the game to take the win.
 
"When you go on the road, (your shots) don't go down like they do at home," said Reisman. "We've got to share the ball and take better shots. Tonight, we did that in the second half. You've got to be able to win road games if you want to compete for a conference championship."
 
Junior point guard Deshawn Riddick led the way for Tarleton with 17 points on 5-8 shooting, including a 4-6 clip from downtown, while Chantz Chambers also cracked double figures with 13 points on 5-9 shooting from the floor and 3-6 from downtown. Riddick also added a team high six assists.
 
Romond Jenkins filled up the stat sheet with eight points, nine rebounds, and four blocks in 22 minutes of action while Ridell Camidge (7) and Anthony Davis (5) combined for 12 points to round out the starting lineup. Smith (7), Clayborne (5), Hawley (4), Curtiss Anderson (2), and Lance Ewell (2) added scoring off the bench.
 
Tarleton will return to action Saturday night in Portales as the Texans close out their New Mexico road swing with a showdown at Eastern New Mexico at 8 p.m. CST.