- Box Score
STEPHENVILLE – The Tarleton Texans outlasted No. 9 Incarnate Word in a hard-fought Lone Star Conference South Division in Wisdom Gym Wednesday as the Texans remained perfect at home and in division play with the 69-66 victory.
Tarleton improved to 12-3 overall and 3-0 in the LSC South as the Texans claim the top spot in the division. UIW fell to 13-2 and 2-1.
“Incarnate Word has a very good team,” said Tarleton head coach Lonn Reisman. “I didn't feel we played particularly well tonight, but there are factors to that. We have to get back into the flow of things with school starting, but I thought we did what we needed to do to win the game at the end. We had possessions there in the end when we turned it over, and they are very good and fought back.
“I thought our guys finally settled down and we need some big games like this that are close, and it was good to pull out the victory,” Reisman said. “We had a pivotal loose ball that we got on our end of the floor and turned into a very important basketball.
Corin Henry led the Texans with 26 points and five assists as he took control of the game when he needed to, hitting the two free throws to make it a three-point game with 14.0 seconds on the clock.
“Corin had a very good game, and as he continues to mature, we are going to get better,” Reisman said. “He is becoming a complete point guard, and he is coming in to get extra work in and get better at not just scoring, but distributing the ball well. I feel like we played hard, and I am proud of our guys tonight.”
Henry got the game going with a three-point play the hard way just 41 seconds into the contest. He was followed by a dunk by Devon Hills at 18:40 to make it 5-0 Tarleton. The Texan senior was called for a technical foul for hanging onto the rim while trying not to land on congested traffic, and Tracy Robinson hit one of the two bonus shots. Wes Dipprey and Chris Johnson traded layups before Henry and Shaun Umeh did the same. A jumper by Kelcey Solomon was followed by a jumper by Eric Stewart as the Cardinals tied the game at nine with 14:55 on the clock.
Dipprey and Robinson traded a layup and a dunk before Solomon gave the visitors a 14-13 lead at 12:29. A three by Chris Harrell at 11:59 followed by an old-fashioned three-point play by Wale Ogunoye at 9:24 put Tarleton ahead by four, 17-13. Robinson and Warren Webb traded buckets before Henry returned the lead to six. After Tarleton led 21-17, Carrington Tankson hit a three at 6:54 to lift the Texans to a seven-point advantage. The two teams traded buckets before UIW went on a 5-0 run to cut the lead to two (26-24) with 3:15 on the clock.
Henry then hit a three for Tarleton, but Umeh free throws cut the lead to three. Henry had two free shots on his own, but Deleon Hines had a three for the visitors to cut the score to 31-29 with 1:58 on the clock. Fabian Wilson got a strong putback on the opposite end to put Tarleton up by four. Robinson had a free throw with 22 seconds left to give the game its halftime score with the Texans leading, 33-30.
Henry started the second half picking the pocket of the UIW point guard and getting a layup to put Tarleton up by five, but UIW went on a 9-0 run to take a 39-35 lead with 18:05 on the clock. Wilson had a jumper for the Texans before a three-point play by Henry with a layup and a free throw returned the lead to Tarleton, 40-39. Hines then had two free throws to return the lead to the Cardinals.
Donta Smith and Solomon traded buckets in the paint before Solomon had another to make it 45-42 UIW with 14:04 on the clock. A three by Wilson from the top of the key tied the game at 45 before Stewart and Smith traded layups. A free throw by Smith after he was fouled on his layup gave the Texans the lead. Then, Henry found Darrion Washington in the right corner for a three to make it 51-47 with 11:53 on the clock.
After a Solomon free throw, Henry had a jumper, but Jordan Roddy had a three at 10:12 to make it 53-51 Tarleton. Tankson had two free throws before a Johnson layup, but Washington found the bucket from beyond the arc and was fouled. He converted the rare four-point play to make it 59-53 Tarleton 8:50 on the clock.
Washington had a three from the right wing prior to a free throw by both Robinson and Stewart. Henry then had a layup to make it 64-57 with 5:13 remaining in the period. After a Stewart free throw, Tarleton turned the ball over and Hines got a layup to make it a four-point game at 3:04. Washington turned it over for Tarleton for the second straight time, and Robinson got a jumper.
Hills then found Dipprey for a layup underneath the basket on the opposite end. With 32.66 seconds on the clock, Henry was fouled to stop the clock, and the senior hit the backend of the two shots. Stewart then missed a layup, but he got an easy layup and the putback to cut the score to 67-64. Henry fell while dribbling, and the ball went to UIW and Umeh got the layup to make it 67-66. Henry was fouled with 14.0 seconds to stop the clock, and he hit both bonus shots to make it a three-point game. Umeh had a chance to tie the game, but the ball went off the rim, and Tankson got the board for Tarleton to seal the victory.
Washington was the only other Texan in double digits with 10 as Dipprey led the squad with five rebounds.
Tarleton averaged .424 from the floor (25-59), .412 from the arc (7-17) and .667 from the charity stripe (12-18).
The Cardinals were led by Johnson, Robinson and Umeh with 11 points while Stewart had 10. Johnson led the squad with eight rebounds as Tarleton outrebounded the visitors 37-34.
The Texans will return to action on the road at Eastern New Mexico at Saturday, Jan. 22. Tip-off in Portales, N.M. is set for 8 p.m. CST.
