Texans pummel Grayson 85-69, advance to semifinal round in Weatherford

WEATHERFORD — Six players scored in double figures Thursday as the top-seeded South Plains College men's basketball team pummeled Grayson College 85-69 in the quarterfinal round of the Region V Men's Basketball Tournament at the Betty Jo Graber Athletic Center.

South Plains advances to the semifinal round where they will match up with Odessa College at 5 p.m. on Friday. The contest will stream live at spctexans.com via the TSBN Sports Network.

"Our guys played fast and executed the game plan early on," South Plains head coach Hayden Sowers said. "Every possession, for 40 minutes you have to play that way to win the postseason. We knew they were really good in transition and if we could force misses it would allow us to run the floor. We were locked in from the beginning and found a way to get some easy buckets."

Kerwin Prince led the Texans with 16 points and 11 boards coming off the bench, connecting on five of nine shots from the field over 23 minutes. Jabori Mcghee and Jalen Forrest each finished with 15 points for South Plains, while Malique Ewin had 12 points and 13 boards and Jermahri Hill finished with 10.

Sophomore Bryson Ogletree chipped in 10 points over 17 minutes as South Plains shot 47 percent from the floor in the contest. The Texans locked down Grayson on the defensive end, forcing their counterpart to shoot just 32 percent from the field and five of 21 from the 3-point line.

"We've earned the right to play 40 more minutes," Sowers said. "We have to get locked in and get ready for tomorrow. Our guys know Odessa, and they know us, and every game from here on out is going to be tough to win, especially in our region which is the best region in the country."