SPC Texans open league play against NMMI Monday in Roswell

ROSWELL, N.M. – The South Plains College Texan basketball team will return to the court Monday evening in Roswell, N.M., where they will begin conference action against the New Mexico Military Institute Broncos.  Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. central time and will be broadcasted live at www.spctexans.com as well as www.klvtradio.com.  KLVT's Michael Wiiest will call the courtside action.


The Texans (11-2) have had a short amount of time to prepare for the conference opener against the Broncos as they only returned from a three-game Arizona trip on Saturday, where they had their 46-game winning streak come to an end.

South Plains will look to shoot the ball better than the 34.7 percent they shot in a loss to Scottsdale on New Years Eve as well as the 38.2 percent they shot two days later in a loss to Mesa.

New Mexico Military (4-9) enters the game on a five game losing streak and has not played since a Dec. 11 loss to Otero College.  The Broncos last win came Nov. 20, 89-71 over Chandler-Gilbert.  Coincidentally, the Texans defeated Chandler-Gilbert in their last time on the court Jan. 3.  The Texans defeated the Coyotes 70-35 in the last of three games in the Phoenix area.

Through the non-conference schedule, sophomore Yanick Moreira, last season's NJCAA Tournament MVP, has led South Plains.

In 12 games, Moreira has averaged 19 points and 9.4 rebounds per contest and has also recorded 31 blocked shots.  Freshman Roderick Lawrence and Ryan Martin are SPC's next leading scorers with 8.8 and 8.2 points per game, respectively.

Following tonight's contest, South Plains will host back-to-back games at the Texan Dome when the Texans and Lady Texans welcome Midland College to town on Thursday and Howard College on Saturday.