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STEPHENVILLE – The Tarleton Texans did not seem phased by the seven-day break caused by Thanksgiving, defeating Wiley College, 90-47.
The Texans outscored the Wildcats 26-12 in the paint and 26-19 off the bench as Tarleton improved to 4-0 to open the season.
Tarleton head coach Lonn Reisman said he was pleased with the way Tarleton played, but said he expected a little more from the NAIA opponent.
“Wiley did not play as well today as we have seen them play,” Reisman said. “Our kids played well today and took our game plan to the floor. Today, when we built our lead, we were able to sustain it.”
Tarleton jumped out to a seven point lead early and stretched it to 12 with 10:30 on the clock. The Wildcats never got within eight with 5:02 remaining in the first half, but Tarleton pushed it to double digits before halftime and never relinquished the double figure lead.
Reisman said he and his staff were looking to today's game to help improve little things prior to starting the Lone Star Conference crossover schedule next week.
“We wanted to build some things today, and some of our young kids came in to the game and did well today, too,” Reisman said. “I want to get those guys in the ballgame, and I want them to play like they are starters. That group has given us great practice time while making themselves better. We are trying to make ourselves better. We expect them to work every day to get to their highest level and get out on the court and execute.”
Leading the Texans on Saturday was Corin Henry with 23 points while Devon Hills had 14 and Effran Bryant had 11 to help the Texans to the win.
Hills started the game with two free throws and a jumper in the first minute and a half to put the Texans up by four prior to the Wildcats tying the score at four points apiece with 17:36 on the clock. Tarleton pushed the score to a seven-point lead with 14:22 remaining in the first half when Jeremiah Wilson nailed a three.
The Wildcats cut the lead to two when Alexander Cossey hit a layup at 12:54, but Tarleton's Henry, Chris Harrell and Bryant had buckets to make it 24-12 with 10:30 on the clock. The teams traded buckets before Tarleton led 27-19 with just over five minutes on the clock.
Tarleton then outscored the visitors 13-3 in the final five minutes of the first half to take a 40-22 halftime lead. Scoring in the run was Henry and Hills (three times), all from the three-point arc.
The Texans stretched the lead to as much as 31 with 7:04 on the clock as Tarleton took a 64-33 lead. Marquis Wright hit a jumper for the Wildcats before Donta Smith and Henry each had a layup to make it a 33-point advantage.
With 2:52 remaining in the game, Charlie Hurd hit a layup to make it a 41-point advantage (81-40). After each team added to their totals, Larry Petite blew past a defender for a layup before Hurd had a jumper. Jeremy Myers had the last bucket of the game when he hit a shot from beyond the arc.
Smith led the Texans in rebounding with nine while Wale Ogunoye had seven.
Tarleton averaged .576 from the floor (34-59), .500 from the three-point arc (15-30) and .412 from the charity stripe (7-17).
WC was led by Harold Cleveland with 16 points and seven rebounds.
The Wildcats averaged .291 from the field (16-55), .304 from the arc (7-23) and .571 from the line (8-14).
The Texans will return action on Tuesday, Dec. 1 at home when they host LSC North Division rival Central Oklahoma at 8 p.m. in Wisdom Gym.
“Now we get to ramp it up to the next level of play,” Reisman said. “There have been some big battles between us and Central Oklahoma, and this will tell us where our team is at this time of the year. This week will be a good gauge for us with UCO and Northeastern State coming in to play.”
