SAN DIEGO — Tarleton State fell to San Diego in its road opener in overtime, 96-90, on Friday night at the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
The Texans (1-1) were unable to hold a halftime lead, leading to a Torero (2-0) buzzer-beating three-pointer to tie the game at 82 and head to overtime. In the extra session, San Diego took an early advantage and never looked back ultimately taking the game by six. The Texans drop to 0-7 in their road opener in the D1 era. The Texans were forced to play five guards in the final eight minutes of the game with four fouling out including all three forwards.
"We got a lot of contributions from a lot of different guys," said head coach
Eric Haut postgame. "There's a lot to build on from this tonight. The character of this group really showed today and that's what I'm most proud of. We'll go back, we'll learn from tonight and move on to UT Dallas next week."
TJ Cope led the Texans in scoring with 20. Cope nearly reached his career-high set last year against Memphis when he notched 21. The senior guard made six of his 10 shots from the floor and eight of his 13 free throws. The Boston, Mass., native, also registered five boards and three assists.
Leroy Kelly IV landed in double figures for the second-straight game to start the season torching the nets for 19 points. The sophomore also added six boards and two assists.
Franck Emmou was the third Texan to score at least 15 ending the night with 17. The Arlington, Texas, native, shot three-for-four from deep and led the Purple and White with six assists.
Adrian Shackleton and
Josh Hayes each made their Texan debut. Shackleton led the squad with eight rebounds and Hayes recorded six blocks and six points.
Kade Douglas started off on fire for the Texans. Douglas accounted for the Texans' first nine points of the game all coming from the long ball. The senior made all three of his triples in the first three minutes. Emmou kept the show coming from deep with a triple of his own. The first 12 Texan points all came from behind the arc with the Texans connecting from the floor on all four of their attempts in the first four minutes of the contest.
The Texans controlled their lead the entire half. The Texan lead ballooned to as many as 15 in the final four minutes. The Texans distanced themselves with a 7-0 run across 3:27 to lengthened their advantage from one to eight. Their lead reached double-digits for the first time just over eight minutes into the game off a
Brett Freeman triple. The Texans lead never dropped below seven in the final 11 minutes and stayed in double figures in the final 6:39 of the first half taking a 46-32 advantage into the break.
San Diego bounced back to begin the second half scoring 10-straight points to cut their deficit to four in the first 2:30 of the half. The Texans responded with a 5-0 run to bring their lead back to five, capped by an Emmou triple. But, San Diego kept battling back tying the game for the first time at 66 with 7:17 left to go in regulation. The Toreros took their first lead of the game on a three-pointer with 5:41 remaining.
The final five minutes went back and forth with the Texans finding themselves down four, with 2:26 to go. Three made free throws by Emmou and a Cope layup put the Texans up one with 1:18 to go. After a San Diego bucket, Kelly IV put the Texans up two with less than 30 seconds left. In the final 30 seconds the Texans shot one-for-four from the free throw line setting up the Toreros with one final chance with 2.8 seconds on the clock. USD's Dusty Stromer found the bottom of the net at from the right side of the arc to tie the game at 82 and send it to overtime.
In the extra session, San Diego started out hot once again posting a 4-0 lead in the first minute of the game. Emmou brought the Texans back within one a triple, but San Diego responded with a 4-0 run. The Texans were never able to bring their deficit back below three falling, 96-90 in overtime. The Toreros shot a perfect 10-for-10 from the free throw line in the extra session accounting for 10 of their 14 total points.
In a game that saw 59 total fouls and 78 free throw attempts, San Diego led most of the statistical categories. The Toreros won the battle of the boards, 36-31, and forced 18 turnovers while committing 14. San Diego also led in assists, 18-17, and steals, 6-4. The Texans posted a season best six blocks with all coming from Hayes, with San Diego recording two. The Texans shot 51.9 percent from the floor making 27 if their 52 attempts. The Texans also shot 40 percent from deep, connecting on 10 of their 25 shots. The Texans shot 26-for-39 from the free throw line at a 66.7 percent. San Diego shot 38.5 percent from the floor, 42.9 percent from deep and 87.2 percent from the charity stripe connecting on 34 of their 39 attempts.
Tarleton State will be back in action with a pair of road games next week. First, the Texans will host UT Dallas on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. at the EECU Center followed by a Friday night tip at 7 p.m. against Alcorn State also at the EECU Center. Both games will be streamed on ESPN+.
