HUTCHINSON, Kan. - The No. 1 ranked South Plains College Texan basketball team will have the opportunity to play for the NJCAA championship at 8 p.m. Saturday night after defeating the Eastern Oklahoma State College Mountaineers 95-75 in the first of two semi-final games Friday night at the Hutchinson Sports Arena. The victory also marked the 300th for Steve Green as head coach of the Texans.
South Plains (35-0) can also become the first team in 14 years to run the table and claim the NJCAA crown without being defeated.
They will have to survive a No. 1 vs No. 2 showdown to earn that accolade as second-ranked Northwest Florida State (32-1) defeated hometown favorite and eighth-ranked Seward County (KS) 77-64.
After falling behind early in their first two games of the NJCAA tournament, the Texans wasted no time Friday night taking a 56-38 lead to the locker room.
Sophomore Marshall Henderson regained his long-range shooting form, hitting a fast-break 3 in the first two-minutes of the ballgame.
"I took advantage of the day off and shot some extra shots after workout (Thursday)," Henderson said. "It helped seeing the ball go through the net."
Henderson finished with a game high 28 points on 9-of-20 shooting from the field, including 7-of-15 from beyond the 3-point line - a distance he had connected on only once in 16 attempts combined over the last two games.
South Plains had a key run in the first half that helped distance themselves from the Mountaineers that began around the 13 minute mark when Stanton Kidd tipped in a miss byYanick Moreira, giving the Texans a seven point lead, 19-12.
Over the next 61/2 minutes Henderson nailed three more 3s, and the Texans outscored Eastern Oklahoma State 21-6 to take a commanding 20 point lead.
Early in the second half South Plains extended their lead to as many as 26 points. A 16-0 Mountaineer run would make the game interesting again. Tymell Murphy stopped the bleeding with a field goal that pushed the Texan lead back to 12
Murphy went on to score eight of his 22 points over the final 12 ½ minutes of the game to help the Texans regain their comfortable lead, while also adding seven rebounds and three blocked shots during the course of the game. Murphy connected on 7-of-8 shots.
Moreira helped set the stage defensively with a big block in the opening minute of the game.
"Every time the ball was shot it looked like he (Moreira) was either blocking or rebounding it early in the game," Texan head coach Steve Green said of Moreira.
Moreira finished with a game high 11 rebounds and tied with Murphy for a game high three blocked shots while just missing a third consecutive double-double with eight points.
Gainey and Kidd both finished a single rebound shy of a double-double, scoring 14 and 12 points, respectively, while also shooting a combined 10-of-11 from the field. Gainey was a perfect 6-of-6.
As well as the Texans played in spurts Friday night, there was a glaring number on the stat line.
"We set a season high, I bet you," Green said as he glanced at the box score. "This thing has us at 29 turnovers. We are a team that never turns the ball over. If we get up around 15, 16, 17, that's not good for us. 29 turnovers, that is attention getting."
South Plains turned the ball over 21 times on three occasions early in the season, but have not had more than 19 in a game since a January 6 game at Scottsdale.
Northwest Florida State won their first 17 games of the season and was ranked No. 1 in the country for one week before falling to then fourteenth-ranked Pensacola College in overtime January 14. They have not lost again, reeling off another 15 victories entering Saturday's NJCAA Championship game.
"I have a lot of respect for both these two teams," Green said at the beginning of the second semifinal game. "It's not going to be a freewheeling game like this one was tonight."
Saturday's championship game will be streamed live over the internet by NJCAA TV. KLVT Radio is carrying live audio provided by the tournament on KLVT 1230 AM andwww.klvtradio.com. KAMC 28 News was on location. See game highlights and a recap atwww.everythinglubbock.com.
Eastern Oklahoma (32-4)
Bobby Jones 4-14 2-4 11, Therone Chilton 6-20 4-6 20, Antwan Cathey 4-8 3-4 11, Kymer Levy 0-7 1-2 1, Rod Lewis 1-3 5-8 8, Marcus Tarrance 8-21 4-5 22, Mikel Tarrance 1-2 0-0 2, Brett Lincoln 0-0 0-1 0, Joe Ebondo 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 24-77 19-30 75
South Plains (35-0)
Deshaunt Walker 2-6 0-0 4, Yanick Moreira 2-5 4-6 8, Derrell Edwards 1-3 0-2 2, Corey Spence 0-3 0-0 0, Devonte Smith 2-4 1-3 5, Stanton Kidd 4-5 4-5 12, Marshall Henderson9-20 3-4 28, Tymell Murphy 7-8 8-9 22, Greg Gainey 6-6 2-2 14, Terrence Durham 0-1 0-0 0, Anthony Walker 0-0 0-1 0, Alex Giraudier 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 33-61 22-32 95
|
SCORE BY PERIODS |
1st |
2nd |
TOTAL |
|
Eastern Oklahoma |
38 |
37 |
75 |
|
South Plains |
56 |
39 |
95 |
FG%: Eastern Oklahoma .312, South Plains .541. 3-pt FG:Eastern Oklahoma 8-27 (Jones 1-5, Chilton 4-9, Levy 0-2, Lewis 1-2, Tarrance 2-7, Ebondo 0-2), South Plains 7-23 (Walker 0-4, Edwards 0-2, Smith 0-1, Henderson 7-15, Durham 0-1). Rebounds: Eastern Oklahoma 28 (Tarrance 6), South Plains 55 (Moreira 11). Fouls Eastern Oklahoma 23, South Plains 25. Fouled out: Tarrance . Technical: none. Assists: Eastern Oklahoma 8 (Tarrance 3), South Plains 17 (Henderson 3, Murphy 3). Steals: Eastern Oklahoma 18 (Cathey 4), South Plains 11 (Henderson 3). Blocked shots: Eastern Oklahoma 3 (Cathey 1, Lewis 1, Ebondo 1), South Plains 7 (Moreira 3, Murphy 3). Turnovers: Eastern Oklahoma 17, South Plains 29.