STEPHENVILLE, Texas — Tarleton State Men's Basketball notched their seventh home victory of the season in their final non-conference home tilt of the season, a 78-54 victory against Florida A&M on Friday night at the EECU Center.

With the win the Texans (9-4) finish their first calendar year in the EECU Center with a 7-0 record at home. For the seventh time in the last 20 years, the Texans were perfect at home in non-conference play, and the second time in its Division I era. Florida A&M (3-6) will end their Texas trip with a Sunday tilt at TCU.

Leroy Kelly IV led the Texans in the first time of his collegiate career with 18. Kelly IV is the seventh different Texan to lead the team in scoring this season. The true freshman also added a team-best eight boards. Jordan Mizell notched the most assists in a game by the Texan this season with eight, setting a new career high. He tallied his previous best of six three times last year.

Four Texans scored in double figures with Chris Mpaka notching 10, Dior Johnson with 13 off the bench and Andy Sigiscar with 12. Freddy Hicks and Kelly IV led the team with three steals. 

The Texans scored first off a turnaround jumper from Mpaka, but the Rattlers responded taking an early 7-4 lead. A 5-0 run fueled by a bucket from Cam McDowell and Johnson's first triple of the game gave the Texans a 9-7 lead. FAMU used a 7-0 run with a pair of triples to take their largest lead of the half, five, 14-9. The two teams traded baskets with eight lead changes and two ties in the first 12 minutes of the game.

With eight minutes to go in the half, the Texans took the lead for good. Trailing 22-18, a 4-0 run by Sigiscar tied the game at 22. Tarleton State built their lead up to seven on an 11-0 run. Five of the last seven points of the burst all came from the free throw line. The other two came off a Johnson steal off a Florida A&M inbound under the Texan hoop where he found Mpaka for the slam.

The Texans expanded their lead to 13 on an 8-0 run across 1:28 to take a 37-24 lead with 4:28 remaining in the first half. Kelly IV started the burst with his first triple of the contest. Johnson followed him up with a bucket and three free throws from Johnson and Mpaka capped the run. The Texans closed out the half on a 6-0 run to take their largest lead of the half, 14, heading into the break. Kade Douglas stripped and scored with 42 ticks left closed by an Mpaka jumper in the paint to put the Purple and White in the lead, 49-35, at the break.

The Purple and White opened the second half with a 7-0 run to take a 21-point lead. Kelly IV knocked down his second triple of the game. Kelly IV later hit back-to-back threes in part of a 12-0 run across 3:39 of game action. With the burst, the Texans took their first 30-point lead with 12:28 to go in the contest. 

Florida A&M shortened their deficit with a 7-0 run with under six minutes to go. But the Texans took back control and coasted in the final minutes of the game. Sigiscar scored the final four Texan points of the game to give the Texans a 78-54 victory, their seventh at home this season.

The Texans shot 47.5 percent from the floor, 28-for-59. The Texans shot 50 percent from three-point land making five of their 10 shots. Tarleton State shot 73.9 percent from the charity stripe making 17 of their 23 attempts. The Texans won the battle of the boards 43, 32 and the turnover battle, 23-20. The Purple and White forced 20+ turnovers for the sixth time this season.

Tarleton State will open conference play after a 10-day Holiday break. The Texans will hit the road to open their WAC slate against UT Arlington at the College Park Center on Dec. 29 at 7 pm.