Texans reach the elite

The 8-team South Central Regional tournament hosted at Tarleton State University’s Wisdom Gym commenced this past weekend, and midway this week delivered an exciting result when the Texan basketball team defeated Angelo State University 66-64 to claim the NCAA South Central Regional Championship. As the Texans’ record indicated, Coach Lonn Riesman’s team is primed to face any opponent matched against them on hardwood.

The Texans’ first opponent, St. Mary’s University, realized this imminent truth soon enough during the opening quarterfinal round on Saturday.

Forty-six seconds is all Tarleton required to assert themselves as the undisputable keynote squad in the 2015 South Central region, as “Dark-Horse” dunker Davene Carter tenaciously blocked St. Mary’s opening shot attempt. Despite the early lapse in scoring, Mo Lee’s jumper with 18:00 provided the Texans with their early advantage. Following the Rattler’s 4-point play at 15:59 and brief 3-2 advantage, Tarleton posted 7 (10-3,14:27 in first period) unanswered points to generate the game’s final lead change. St. Mary’s managed to minimize their deficit to 3 points (19-16, 6:07 in first period); however, the 6:3 ratio of successful shot (FG/3PT) attempts for the remainder of the half favored the Texans, who reached the halfway point holding a 31-21 lead.

The second period began as the first, as Carter displayed routine airtime to the rim for a momentum capturing slam-dunk (32-21,19:29 in second period). The Texan assault produced five additional points before the Rattlers managed to catch their wind with two successful attempts from the free-throw line (32-23,16:40 in second period).

As matters progressed under the 10-minute mark, Tarleton stood firmly above the Rattlers by 21 points via scoring from Malcolm Hamilton, Damion Clemmons, and the high-flying Mike Hardge.

Once the game-clock read near five minutes, the atmosphere attested to the Texans’ dominance as the Rattlers were in a 62-44 hole. After the game’s final four points were accounted, Tarleton would retire on the day with a 71-52 victory over St. Mary’s that would serve as a cryptic preview for their remaining opposition.

The University of Colorado in Colorado Springs served as the Texans’ semifinal opponent on Sunday. Aside from the Mountain Lions posting the initial points, the driver’s seat remained occupied by Tarleton from the get-go. After the opening 5:57 of the first period, the Mountain Lions encountered a cold-streak in scoring while Tarleton simultaneously executed the reciprocal method, adding 10 unanswered points (27-10) by way of collaborative contributions from EJ Reed, Hamilton, Lee, and freshman DeShawn Riddick.

Aside from the jumper converted by the Mountain Lions as the buzzer segued into the halftime, Tarleton remained able to maintain their assurance with a 39-22 advantage.

Riesman’s savvy extends beyond the pedigree of just about all of his cohorts. This fact proved eminent, as the Texans came out for the second half poised and conscious of not committing haste charges in the paint or opting for ill-advised shots. At 18:19, Hardge preceded the Texan assault with his 2-point jumper in the paint. Hardge’s slam-dunk at 14:36 then would establish a 20-point cushion for the home team (51-31). Whether it be attributed to Nosa Ebomwonyi’s assist to Carter at 7:13 or Hamilton’s jumper that preceded Hardge’s two successful shots at the line with 4:42, momentum proved lop-sided prior to halftime.

The Texans exited Saturday’s contest as winners of an 84-62 contest over the Mountain Lions of Colorado Springs that pushed them into the final round to face LSC rival Angelo State University.

As all Texans settled into the remaining stretch of the spring 2015 semester, Wisdom Gym played host to a vibrant atmosphere on Tuesday night. As the Texan fans’ decibel capacities engulfed the Rams, Reed got the Texans on the board first (2-0, 19:28 in first). Hardge soon provided the encore with his 3-point dagger at 17:31 (5-0, TSU), at which point nearly three minutes expired prior to Lee adding two points for the “good-guys” via layup at 14:53 (7-3, TSU).

The Rams did manage to tie matters at 12:07 as the score knotted at 9-9, followed by Angelo gaining and maintaining a lead just prior to the final minute of the first half (1:28 in first period, 27-27, tie) before Hardge went two for two from the line.

Following two gifts at the line, Clemons’s successful draw of a foul on the Rams for two additional points courtesy of free throws.

Clemons’s blocked shot at the buzzer for halftime sent the Rams into the break facing a 29-27 deficit. As many predicted, Angelo well surpassed the degree of competition Tarleton had faced in the tournament so far.

After the Rams converted their opening 3-point attempt of the concluding half, Lee delivered a near-perfect strike to Carter for the alley-oop; however, Carter maintained the possession resulting in a successful field goal for the Texans (18:58 in 2nd, 31-30, TSU).

As Angelo recaptured the lead (34-31, 18:04 in second), the chants of “Purple!” proceeded by “White!” began to erupt. Faint attempts for “Blue…fight” did occur but were promptly cancelled out by the sell-out Texan crowd.

Lee’s jumper with 16:45 to go re-captured the Texan lead (36-34, TSU) despite the Rams tying matters at 36-36 (15:36 in second), it was the Texans who lead five minutes into the period following DaShawn Riddick’s dime from beyond the arc (39-36, 15:08 in second).

As the final home game for the Texans dwindled to 10 minutes, Carter’s glide for a dunk established a 6-point Tarleton advantage (48-42, 10:18 in second, TSU).

To grant respect to the opposition, Angelo State would propose a valiant effort during the last 10 minutes of regulation, as the following four possessions produced the scoring pattern of Texans, Rams, Texans, and then the Rams (8:46 in second, 53-46, TSU).

The domination of the Texans in the final five minutes was far from reflected by the narrow margin of the final score. Carter’s dunk around the 5-minute mark extended the lead to five points (55-50), and completely shifted all momentum to one-side. At 1:28 in regulation, Hamilton took flight for a dunk of his own (59-55, TSU), capitalized by a 3-point nail in the Ram coffin from Hamilton with 00:53 until the final buzzer. Essentially, Murphy’s Law (anything that can go wrong, will go wrong) would epitomize the resilience of Angelo State against an opponent with the degree of coaching and talent-depth Tarleton possesses.

As the clock hit double zeros, the Texans defeated the Angelo State Rams by a final of 66-64 with a fluid display of finesse and mental fortitude against a worthy adversary.

Riesman and his Texans will now look onward to the University of Mount Olive (NC) Trojans, who they will face next Wednesday, March 25 at the Ford’s Center in Indianapolis, Indiana at 12 p.m.