STEPHENVILLE, Texas —
Dior Johnson's new career-best 32-point effort lifted Tarleton State Men's Basketball to win their fifth home opener in its D1 era with an 85-77 victory over Texas A&M – Corpus Christi on Saturday evening in the EECU Center.
The Texans (1-2) picked up their first victory of the season and the first in their brand new $130 million arena, the EECU Center. The Islanders (1-2) drop their second consecutive on their trip up north from the Island and head back home before heading to Kansas to take on the Jayhawks on Tuesday night in Lawrence, Kan.
"It was a really good win for us against a very good team, that everyone saw at the end of the game," said head coach
Billy Gillispie. "The whole deal really started from defense. In the first half we dominated the glass not giving up any offensive rebounds. We were really playing well defensively so were able to run and get open shots in transition. Kade [Douglas] got hot and showed us what he could do, and Dior did what he does. We are just scratching the surface.
Dior Johnson surpassed his career high for the second time as a Texan, totaling 32 points, the third most in Tarleton State's D1 era. He is the first to record 30+ since Devon Barnes 33-point game against CBU (2/24/23). A Texan has now only scored 30+ points eight times in the D1 era. Johnson becomes the seventh different player, with
Freddy Hicks the only one to accomplish the feat twice in a career. Johnson also set a new career-high with four made triples on five attempts. He sank 10 of his 12 free throw attempts and shot nine-for-16 from the field. He also added six boards, two assists and a steal in 33 minutes of action.
"It was a great team effort tonight, that was a great team," said
Dior Johnson in a postgame radio interview. "I give all the credit to Coach Gillispie. He has been hard on me since I got here and pushing me every day to be better and better. Shoutout to Coach Gillispie for making me guard a certain away and teaching me at the same time. I appreciate that because he is making me a better player."
Freddy Hicks is the only Texan to score in double figures in each of the first three contests. Hicks tallied 14 points and added a team-best eight rebounds. Hicks has averaged 13.7 points scoring 41 total points in the first three games of the season. He connected on six of his seven free throw attempts to add up his total to 486 career made free throws, the most by an active NCAA D1 player. He also fouled out for the third-consecutive game this season, adding to his D1 era Texan record, 16 times in his career.
Kade Douglas scored in double-digits for the second consecutive game, totaling 18. He sunk three three-pointers, to total seven in the past two contests. In total he shot six-for-11 from the floor and added three made free throws.
Andy Sigiscar added a team-high four blocks along with seven points.
The Texans started out with a difference-making, 11-0 run to open with a bang.
Chris Mpaka started off the scoring with a hook shot to score Tarleton State's men's first regular season basket in the EECU Center. Later, he knocked down a free throw to score the first three Texan points of the game. Back-to-back jumpers from Hicks and Douglas popped the Texans out to a seven-point advantage.
Kaia Isaac sunk the first triple of the regular season in the EECU to put the Texans ahead by 10 and force an Islander timeout. Douglas hit one of two free throws to give the Purple and White an 11-0 start to the game.
Tarleton State held Texas A&M – Corpus Christi scoreless until the 15:06 remaining in the half when they scored their first point, a free throw. The Islanders did not get their first basket till over seven minutes into the game. The Texan lead hovered around ten for the next few minutes.
With the Texans leading 18-8 with 11 minutes left, the Texans jumped off on another 11-0 run to balloon their lead to 20.
Andy Sigiscar started the run with a free throw, followed by a pair from Douglas. Hicks followed on the next possession driving to the basket making the layup and earning the foul for the and-one opportunity. He sunk his freebie to put the Texans ahead, 23-8. The
Kade Douglas found an open three-ball after a steal from Hicks and sunk his first of the night. Just 26 seconds later, he let one fly from several feet behind the arc, and it fell into an eruption from the crowd and forced Islander head coach Jim Shaw to call his second timeout of the half.
Douglas scored his first half team-best 15
th point of the half on a layup following a
Jordan Mizell steal to put the Texans back up by 20, 33-13 with 7:13 to play in the half. In the last four minutes of the first half, Johnson scored eight of the Texans final 10 points. He started his night of scoring with a mid-range jumper. After a Sigiscar layup, Johnson followed up with a free throw to give the Texans a 22-point lead, 42-20, with 3:17 to go. He finished the half on his first of four three-pointers in the game and another pair of free throws with 1:11 to go. The Texans took their first halftime lead of the season at the break, 47-28.
Steve Max, the Master of Simon Sez, entertained fans at halftime. He brought out nearly 50 fans separated in half between girls and boys. In the classic game of Simon Sez, he quickly narrowed down the group of nearly 25 boys to four and then crowned a champion knocking out two of the final three. The women's side has a battle of Texan spirit groups with two ladies dueling it out for over a minute until a winner broke out not falling for his order before saying Simon Sez. The two were crowned the Simon Sez champions and granted a Steve Max t-shirt as their prize.
The Islanders opened the second half on a 5-0 run to cut their deficit down to 14. But the Texans responded with a 7-0 run of their own to bring their lead back to 21, 54-33. Douglas' third triple of the contest followed by buckets by Johnson and Hicks fueled the Texan burst. Johnson broke up a TAMU-CC 7-0 run that followed with his second three-pointer of the night. But, the Islanders weren't done yet knocking down three from beyond the arc for a total 16-4 run to bring the Texan lead to single digits, 58-49, at the midpoint of the half.
The two squads traded baskets, with Sigiscar making a loud dunk driving through the lane and slamming it home to put the Texans back up 11. The Islanders kept it close but were unable to shorten the deficit below eight in the second half.
Johnson put the exclamation point on the game scoring 18 of the final 20 Texan points, including 14-consecutive in the final 6:56 of the game. Johnson started with a jumper in the paint followed by a three-pointer on the next Texan possession. From there, Johnson made a layup, a pair of free throws and his fourth triple of the night.
Leroy Kelly IV ended Johnson's 14-straight Texan points with a jumper of his own. Johnson closed out the game with the final four Texan points coming on two perfect trips to the line. Ultimately, the Texans controlled the final part of the half to earn their first win of the season and first regular season victory in the EECU Center, 85-77.
The Texans shot over 50 percent from the field for the first time this season. It marks the 42
nd time in the D1 era, that Tarleton State shot over 50 percent, with the Texans recording their 40
th win to improve to 40-2. The Texans knocked down 24 of their 47 attempts, a 51.1 percent clip. The Texans also shot 53.3 percent from beyond the arc, for the first time this season, connecting on eight of 15. The Texans are now 16-5 in the D1 era when shooting over 50 percent from three-point range. The Purple and White shot 78.4 percent from the free throw line, converting 29 of their 37 attempts. The Texans are shooting 79 percent from the line averaging 24 made free throws per game in their first three games.
Tarleton State tied in the turnover battle with each side committing 13. The Texans have had the same or fewer turnovers as their opponent in 120 of their 156 Division I contests. Tarleton State won the battle of the boards, 34-32 and notched a season-best six blocks while surrendering just two. The Texan bench excelled once again outscoring the Islander bench, 57-27.
Tarleton State will continue its homestand on Tuesday night against Merrimack at 7 p.m. The game on Veterans Day will honor Military Appreciation Day and sponsored by Technip FMC.
