STEPHENVILLE ? The Tarleton Texans used a strong shooting performance and a great defensive presence Thursday as the Texans defeated Adams State, 83-55.
The Texans improved to 5-2 overall and avoided their third straight loss in the regular season since the 2000-01 season.
“We have made some changes this week, and it seems like some of them worked well tonight,” said head coach Lonn Reisman. “There were some good things that happened out there tonight, but I sure didn't expect this. Although, we still have a long way to go.”
The Texans also took care of the ball Thursday only turning the ball over on six occasions in each half.
“The new offense we installed gives our players the chance to do what they do best, but there is always things that need to be improved,” Reisman said. “I believe they are getting comfortable with this offense, and if we can continue to take care of the ball and keep the opponent shooting low, then we will be OK.”
Monquel Pegues got the game going with a dunk just 17 seconds into the contest before Sean Amos tied the game with a layup. Tyler Rushing then had back-to-back buckets for the Texans to put the home team up by four with 17:43 on the clock. Erick Seaman then cut the lead to two a minute later.
Wale Ogunoye then had a jumper at 14:05 before Effran Bryant was fouled on a breakaway layup. The foul was called intentional, and the Texan made one of two bonus shots. After a couple of missed shots by Tarleton on the inbounds pass, Ogunoye was fouled on a shot, and he hit one free throw as well to give Tarleton a 10-4 lead with 13:43 on the clock.
Seaman gave the Grizzlies their first basket since the 16:33-mark to cut the lead to four before Marlin Cloudy, who was playing in his first contest of the season thanks to injury, nailed a three from the left corner at 13:12. Ogunoye then added two free throws to put the Texans up by nine, 15-6, with 12:29 on the clock.
Pegues had a jumper in the paint to put the lead to 11 before a three by Vitor de Zoppa cut the lead to eight. At 9:44, Pegues had a free throw before a Rushing three 29 seconds later made it a 12-point game. Stratton Solomon then put a three in the basket for the visitors before the Texans went on a 9-0 run thanks to jumpers by Hill, Pegues, Ogunoye and Kalif Bakare and a free throw by Rushing. Tarleton led 30-22 with 4:52 on the clock.
Amos had a bucket for the Grizzlies to end the drought before Seth Heinbaugh had a basket for Adams State. Jeremiah Wilson then had an old-fashioned three-point play at 2:57 before Williams added to the lead. Tarleton led by 19 at 2:14, 35-16.
With 49 ticks left in the first period, Pegues added to the lead with a jumper in the paint. Then, with 33.95 seconds on the clock, Amos had a layup and was called for a player-control foul. Williams went to the line for the Texans and made the backend of a two-shot foul. On the opposite end, Hill got a defensive rebound for the Texans with 14 seconds left before the Texan senior nailed a three from the top of the key just before the halftime buzzer.
The Texans closed the first half with a 20-6 run in the final eight minutes of the period to head into the locker room with a 41-18 advantage.
Tarleton opened the second half 12-5 run to make it a 30-point game, 53-23, with 17:17 on the clock. Scoring in the run was Williams, Pegues and Wilson. Nate Ingbretson and Marlin Cloudy then traded threes before Zoppa had a jumper in the paint. Amos then cut the lead to 26 with a jumper at 15:08 before he had a free throw at 14:08 to make it 56-31. Ogunoye then had two free throws for the Texans before a Rushing layup. Ingbretson was fouled shooting a three and, he hit all three bonus shots, but Ogunoye had a layup on the opposite end. Amos then had a three-point play the hard way at 12:34 before Ogunoye had a putback. Hill then found Wilson on an alley-oop and Rushing had a jumper on the return trip.
Wilson added a free throw at 9:58 before Cloudy had a jumper at 8:44 before Seaman had one on the opposite end. Solomon added a free throw before Jean-Marc Melchior and Zoppa traded buckets. Melchior and Ingbretson traded a layup and a three before Amos and Heinbaugh cut the lead to 26 with 4:23 on the clock.
Pegues had a layup at 4:09 before Williams did the same at 3:23. Seaman had two free throws for the Grizzlies 26 seconds afterwards before Rushing had one on the opposite end. Amos added two more for ASC with 2:02 on the clock. Bakare had a free throw at 1:22 before Bryant added two with 60 seconds remaining on the clock. Seaman had the final bucket of the game with 33 seconds left as the Texans won, 83-55.
The Texans handed Reisman his 240th victory in Wisdom Gym in 290 tries while outscoring the Grizzlies 42-20 in the paint and outrebounding the opponent 46-27.
Pegues had 14 points to lead the Texans while Rushing (13), Ogunoye (13), Wilson (10) and Williams (10) each had double digit scoring. Williams led the team with nine rebounds while Wilson and Pegues had seven apiece.
The Texans averaged .517 from the field (31-60), .294 from the three-point arc (5-17) and .571 from the charity stripe (16-28).
Amos led the Grizzlies with 16 points while Zoppa (12) and Seaman (10) scored in double figures. Heinbaugh's nine rebounds led the visitors.
ASC averaged .370 from the field (20-54), .294 from the arc (5-17) and .714 from the line (10-14).
The Texans will return to action Saturday, Dec. 14 at Northeastern State. Tip-off in Tahlequah, Okla. is set for 4 p.m.
