PORTALES, N.M. – According to the U.S. Climate Data website, it hasn't rained in Portales since February 1.
 
But Wednesday night, Tarleton was raining three's.
 
The Texans drained a season-high 14 triples on .538 shooting from beyond the arc to blow past Eastern New Mexico at Greyhound Arena and set up a showdown with significant regional implications against West Texas A&M in Wisdom Gym on Saturday night at 7 p.m.
 
Tarleton is currently ranked No. 7 in the first regional poll of the season, which was released Wednesday afternoon, while West Texas A&M checked in at No. 9. The Texans defeated the Greyhounds by 30 in Portales while the Buffs handled Commerce 93-84 in Canyon.
 
Meanwhile, back to Wednesday's action.
 
EJ Reed got things going by drilling his first three-pointer on the first possession of the game off a pass from Charles Hill, who followed suit on the ensuing Tarleton possession with a three-ball of his own. Reed and Hill combined for the first 14 points of the game over the opening 4:53 to lift Tarleton to a 14-2 lead early.
 
After the Greyhounds pulled the game to, what would be the closest margin of the rest of the game, at 14-6, Tarleton answered with an 8-0 surge of its own to extend the lead back to 16 with 11:17 left in the opening half.
 
That run was just the tip of the iceberg, however.
 
The Greyhounds pulled within 11 at 26-15, but Tarleton pounded away in the final 7:45 of the first half with a 20-2 run to take a 46-17 lead into halftime. Over that final first-half surge, Tarleton got scoring from five different players – Reed (6), Michael Hardge (5), Chantz Chambers (5), Jacob Morales (3), and Deshawn Riddick (1). It allowed Tarleton to take a halftime lead of over 20 points against the Greyhounds in Portales for the first time since January 21, 2009.
 
In the second half, Tarleton pushed its lead to as many as 35 and never led by less than 21 en route to its 18^th win of the season – marking the 15^th straight season for Tarleton with at least 18 wins.
 
As a team, Tarleton shot .474 from the floor – which improves the Texans to 12-0 this season when shooting .450 or better from the field.
 
Reed led the team with 16 points on 5-8 shooting, including 4-5 from downtown. Tarleton also got a trio of 12-point efforts from Hardge, Chambers, and Romond Jenkins, who tied a career high in scoring. Charles Hill (9) and Malcolm Hamilton (2) combined for 11 points to fill out the starting lineup while Riddick (4), Morales (3), Sawyer Kipp (6), and Xavier Smith (7) combined for 20 points off the bench. In addition to Chambers' 12 off the bench, the Texans won the battle of the bench 32-15.
 
Smith, meanwhile, dominated on the defensive end of the floor.
 
The junior from Plano East High School blocked a career-high six shots, which came up just shy of the school's all-time mark of eight held by Vincent Bridgewater and Bobby Davis. Smith helped anchor the Tarleton defense that held Eastern New Mexico to just .290 shooting from the floor for the game.
 
Tarleton will return to Wisdom Gym for Senior Night Saturday against West Texas A&M at 7 p.m.