Texans Avenge Early Season Loss With 86-60 Victory Over Temple

Texans Avenge Early Season Loss With 86-60 Victory Over Temple
LEVELLAND, Texas - The South Plains College Texans avenged their November 9th loss at Temple with an 86-60 victory over the Leopards Friday night at the Texan Dome, thanks in large part to huge nights by freshman point guard Josh Orta and sophomore post Myles Walker. SPC is now 5-1 on the season.

The beginning of the game was similar to the November 9th game with Temple jumping out to an early eight point lead six minutes into the contest, 19-11. The Texans responded forcefully with a 10-0 run of their own over the next three minutes to take a 21-19 lead with 10 minutes and 23 seconds remaining in the first half.

Behind the offensive explosion of Orta, who had 15-points over the final 10-minutes of the first half, the Texans would outscore Temple 25-14 during that time period to head to the locker room with a 46-33 lead. Orta scored 20 points in the first half on 7-of-9 shooting and added six assists.

Coming out of the locker room, sophomore Bo Ingram immediately drained a three pointer to help the Texans begin the second half on a 13-2 scoring run, extending the lead to 59-35 with just over 15 minutes to go in the game.

The Texans would increase their lead by as many as 31 points in the game and never led by fewer than 20 after the scoring run to start the second half. By the time the buzzer sounds, SPC claimed an 86-60 victory.

Orta finished with game highs of 27 points and 11 assists in 37 minutes and was 9-of-12 from the field and 7-of-8 from the charity stripe. Walker, a 6-foot, 8-inch post from San Antonio, proved to be too strong for the Leopards as he scored 22 points and pulled down nine rebounds for SPC, also playing 37 minutes.

Freshman Kenny Brown made 5-of-8 shots, finishing with 10 points, while sophomores Bo Ingram and Tramar Sutherland each added seven. Malik Smith scored five points and grabbed six rebounds for the Texans.

As a team, the Texans made 32-of-58 (.552) shot attempts and outrebounded Temple 42-27.

The 2009 SPC Classic will continue tomorrow at 11 a.m. when Temple College will square off with Region 5 foe Howard College and will conclude with the 1 p.m. matchup featuring South Plains College and Coastal Bend.