No. 9 South Plains rally from 14 down, clip Howard 64-55 Thursday in Big Spring

BIG SPRING — Jonah Antonio scored 16 points in the second half as No. 9 South Plains erased a 14-point halftime deficit to clip Howard College 64-55 Thursday at Dorothy Garrett Coliseum.

Trailing 33-19 at the break, South Plains ripped off a 13-1 run to begin the second half and trimmed the Hawks' lead to just two following a layup from Gaige Prim. Howard would answer with a 3-ball from Malcolm Green that pushed them back up by five, 40-35, but the Texans would respond yet again as Jonah Antonio capped a 5-0 run with a jumper from 13 feet to tie the game at 40 apiece with 10:31 to play.

Antonio would give the Texans their first lead of the contest with 7:35 remaining as the sophomore sharpshooter from Perth, Australia bucketed a 3-pointer with a hand in his face that put South Plains up 47-45.

The Texans would go on to lead by as much as 11 with under a minute to play following a pair of free throws from Christian Wilson as South Plains completed the comeback to improve to 20-3 on the year and 9-2 in the Western Junior College Athletic Conference.

Antonio knocked down 6 of 8 attempts from the floor in the final stint including four 3s as the Texans shot over 48 percent from the field in the second half and were 50 percent from behind the arc. Sophomore Trey Wade recorded 16 points and 11 boards in 40 minutes of action for South Plains while Gaige Prim chipped in 15 points and seven rebounds.

Howard shot 41 percent from the floor in the contest and were 7 of 24 from the 3-point line. Eric Reed led the Hawks with 13 points and seven boards while Jake Heese netted 12 and Garrick Green bucketed 10 points and five boards.

South Plains will return to the hardwood on Monday when they host New Mexico Military Institute at 6:30 p.m. at the Texan Dome.