Texans Battle Back At The Dome

LEVELLAND— The South Plains College Texans overcame a 15-point first half deficit and downed Western Texas College 83-76 to improve to 6-2 in the Western Junior Athletic Conference Monday night at the Texan Dome.

Sophomores Marlon Jones and Che Bob combined for 46 points and nine rebounds four South Plains (15-6) and went 17-28 from floor to lead the Texans past the Westerners (12-10, 3-5). Justice Green continued his offensive hot streak, finishing the game with 16 points and six rebounds for South Plains. Deontae North chipped in 12 points, and Diamante Langston had four points and three steals.

"I think we had a lot of energy tonight, and the crowd gave us a lot of juice," South Plains head coach Steve Green said. "I told the guys we need to be a little more inside oriented and share the ball. I think they got read comfortable running their offense against us, so we thought, let's try and do something a little bit different."

After the Westerners pushed their lead to 15 at the 2:52 mark in the first half, North converted at the basket with under two minutes left to bring the Texans within 10. A two-handed slam from Jones with 36 seconds remaining before the break would trim the deficit to seven and give the Texans a spark headed into the half.

The first nine minutes of the second frame began with both offenses trading shots early on, with Western Texas pushing its lead back to 10 with 12:26 remaining. Unscathed, South Plains once again answered the call, as North connected on a 3-pointer from the right corner to bring the Texans within a point with 10:18 left in regulation.

"I think for the most part we played real well," North said. "We started off a little slow, but we picked it up in the second half and did what we had to do to win. We've been getting off to slow starts a lot, but we always seem to pick it up, and it's just about finding that right group that's doing what coach Green wants. We have so many players that can play, and it's just about finding that right group of guys each game."

The Texans would take their first lead with 8:33 left in the second half after Bob found the bucket on a three from the left wing. Jones would cap off a 12-2 run by the Texans with a monster slam with 7:37 to push the Texans lead to five.

The Westerners managed to keep the game close over the next six minutes, but a reverse dunk from Jones with 1:34 to play would give the Texans an 80-72 lead late in the game, which would be more than enough to cap off another comeback victory and send the Texans home with a crucial conference win.

"The atmosphere was unbelievable tonight," Steve Green said. "Kudos to Cayla, Lindsay Sharp and Sheree Satterwhite, and all the people they rounded up. The band showed up, the students came out, all the track and rodeo kids, and Cayla did an unbelievable job getting all of these people together. When you have a lot of people at home, you just don't quit, and I think that was a big determining factor in both games tonight."

The Texans will now travel to Midland on Thursday night for a conference matchup with tipoff set for 7:30 p.m.