MIDLAND — The South Plains College men's basketball team overcame an eight-point second-half deficit Monday to remain unbeaten as the top-ranked Texans bested Midland College 70-69 at the Al G. Langford Chaparral Center.
South Plains will be back home on Thursday when they play host to New Mexico Junior College at 7:30 p.m. at the Dome. Admission to the game is free and the contest will stream live at spctexans.com.
"Going into the year nobody outside of our school, our team, and our community believed in us, and I want our guys to continue to have that attitude," South Plains head coach Hayden Sowers said. "I want it to continue to be us against the world as we continue to move through conference. Last night during his Grammy speech, Dr. Dre said you just have to wake up each day and do your best and keep showing up. I still feel like we have room for growth, and we're going to come in tomorrow and begin to get ready for New Mexico. I am excited beyond belief that I have those guys in that locker room, and I wouldn't trade them for anyone else in the country."
South Plains' Malique Ewin scored a game-high 19 points on eight of 13 shooting from the floor, while also pulling in 10 rebounds and recorded a game-high seven blocked shots. Jermahri Hill netted eight points, five boards and five assists, while Jabori Mcghee finished with 17 points, four rebounds, and four assists.
"Jabori got into some foul trouble, so I knew someone had to take over this game," Ewin said. "Down the stretch, we were able to tie the game and get two back-to-back buckets and take the lead, and we knew if we could get the lead we would be ok. We focused on getting stops defensively, and we were able to do that when we needed to. We just try to get better each game and stick with each other, and we try and compete each day and improve every opportunity we get."
South Plains shot 51 percent from the field and 41.7 percent from distance. The Texans enjoyed a slight advantage on the glass, outrebounding Midland 32-26, and scored 38 points inside the paint and 20 points on second-chance opportunities.