STEPHENVILLE – After two weeks on the road, Tarleton returned home to take on Texas A&M-Commerce with the winner moving into sole possession of third place in the Lone Star Conference.
What was once a 23-point Tarleton lead turned into a nail-biting 77-73 Texan victory on Tuesday in Wisdom Gym. The Texans have now won a season-long four straight games.
With the win, the Texans move to 16-9 overall and 11-5 in the LSC. The Texans trail West Texas A&M and UT Permian Basin, who are both 12-2, with two conference games remaining for the Texans and four remaining for the LSC leaders. The Texans face WT and UTPB in the final two home games next week.
Tarleton had the hot hand early, especially from 3-point range.
Preston Enloe drilled a pair of 3-balls for an 18-8 advantage 10 minutes into the game. Leading 18-15, the Texans went on an 18-0 run over the next five minutes that featured four straight 3-pointers with two from
Sam Marshall, and followed by
Deshawn Riddick and
Josh Hawley.
The Texans made 7 of their 17 3-point attempts in the first half and shot 52 percent for a 41-24 halftime lead over the Lions.
The pace continued early in the second half for the Texans, with
Corinthian Ramsey scoring eight of the team's first 10 points for the largest lead of the game at 51-28 with 16:30 to go. Ramsey finished with a game-high 18 points to go with six assists.
The Lions came storming back with a 13-0 run to make it a 10-point game. But the second half was an exchange of runs by both teams. The Texans countered back with an 8-0 push to extend the lead to 59-41 with 10 minutes to go.
A&M-Commerce would outscore the Texans 32-16 over the next nine minutes, in large part by shooting 63 percent in the second half, and cut the Texan lead to just two at 75-73 with eight seconds left.
Clashon Gaffney would make a pair of free throws in the final seconds to let the Texans hang on for the victory.
Offensively,
Deshawn Riddick and
Jaraan Lands each posted 12 points with Riddick adding five assists and Lands pulling down five rebounds.
Jesse Hill also recorded double figures in scoring with 10 points.
Tarleton will take on Northern New Mexico in non-conference play on Saturday, Feb. 17 at 4 p.m. in Wisdom Gym.
