Texans fall to No. 15 Snow College 79-70 Monday in Arizona

MESA, AZ — The South Plains College men's basketball team received a season-high 22 points from sophomore Savion Gallion, but a 30-point performance from Snow College' Wyatt Lowell would help the No.15-ranked Badgers clip the Texans 79-70 in the opening round of the Fiesta Bowl Junior College Shootout at Theo Heap Gymnasium on the campus of Mesa Community College.

South Plains moves to 4-6 on the season and will be back on the floor on Tuesday at 4 p.m. MST, 5 p.m. CST against Midland College. The game will stream live at spctexans.com.

Snow jumped out to a 31-26 at the midway point as Lowell dropped in 11 points and snagged nine boards in the front half. South Plains answered back, ripping off a 12-2 run to take a 38-33 lead at the 16:51 mark following a layup from Malek Abdelgowad.  Snow would respond with a 15-7 run and recapture the lead, 48-45 on a jumper from Hagen Wright with just under 13 minutes to play.

South Plains regained the lead with 11:07 remaining as Tytan Newton knocked down a 3 to give the Texans a 51-50 advantage. Snow fired back with a 6-0 run, retaking the lead 56-51 on a 3 from Lowell with 9:51 to go. Trading buckets down the stretch, the Badgers would go on to extend their lead to 12, 79-67 with under a minute to play on a dunk from Clayton Southwick to put the game away in the final seconds.

Gallion finished 8 of 16 from the floor over 31 minutes, while Kieves Turner dropped in 17 points, bucketing 6 of 17 shots over 40 minutes. South Plains shot a 38.8 percent (26-67) clip from the floor and finished 8-for-26 from distance.

Lowell finished 11 of 22 from the field and was 6 of 11 from the 3-point line to go along with 12 boards over 36 minutes for the Badgers. Wright netted 18 points, shooting 8 of 12 from the floor while Southwick totaled 16 points and nine boards. Snow shot 53.3 percent (32-60) from the floor and was 7 of 19 from distance in the contest.