No. 2 South Plains holds off No. 15 Trinity Valley 82-75 Tuesday to advance to Elite 8

HUTCHINSON, Kansas — The second-ranked South Plains College men's basketball team had four players score in double figures Tuesday as they defeated No. 15 Trinity Valley 82-75 at the Hutchinson Sports Arena.  

With the win, South Plains improves to 27-5 on the year and will face No. 10 Eastern Florida State on Thursday at 2 p.m. in the NJCAA Elite 8.

Leading 57-56 with just over seven minutes to play, sophomore point guard Deon Barrett pulled up from the top of the key and drained a 3 to give South Plains a 60-56 lead. Following a pair of free throws from the Cardinal's David Nickelberry, Barrett would hit from behind the arc yet again, this time with 6:29 left to put the Texans up 63-58.

Up six with 3:17 remaining, Barrett connected one more time from the right win, bucketing his third three in a four-minute span to give South Plains a 70-61 advantage. Trinity Valley would get within five following a Tyson Jolly' 3 with 23 ticks to play, but a pair of free throws from Jonah Antonio with 12 seconds to go put the Cardinals away as the Texans advanced to the Elite 8 for the third consecutive year.

Sophomore Trey Wade led the way for South Plains as the 6-7 forward from Marietta, Georgia finished with 22 points, seven boards and six assists in 36 minutes of action. South Plains' Gaige Prim recorded 22 points and nine rebounds, dropping in 6 of 10 shots from the field and was 10-for-12 from the free throw line.

Barrett recorded 15 points on 4 of 9 shooting to go along with five boards and four assists over 37 minutes. Antonio chipped in 12 points, snagged five rebounds and dished out three assists as the Texans shot a 49.1 percent clip from the floor and bucketed 21 of 30 attempts from the charity stripe.

South Plains committed just seven turnovers in the contest while netting 10 points on 10 forced turnovers from the Cardinals. The Texans tallied 26 points inside the paint in a game that was tied eight times and saw eight lead changes over 40 minutes.

Jolly finished with 24 points, eight rebounds and three assists for Trinity Valley, knocking down 8 of 21 shots from the field and was 4 of 9 from the perimeter. Jairus Roberson poured in 15 points and four boards for the Cardinals while Nickelberry tallied 14 points off the bench and Marquan Willaims finished with seven.