LEVELLAND — Defeating No. 11 Indian Hills and previously unbeaten Saux Valley over the weekend in Iowa, the South Plains College men's basketball team climbed to the top of the NJCAA men's basketball national rankings, landing at No. 1 in the week four polls Monday.

The Texans topped Indian Hills 74-68 on Dec. 1, overcoming a 10-point second-half deficit behind Jabori Mcghee's team-high 20 points, which included the go-ahead shot with 53 seconds remaining, part of a 14-2 run from South Plains over the final seven minutes of the game.

Jermahri Hill netted 16 points and four boards for South Plains, knocking down five of 10 shots from the field over 36 minutes. Jalen Hampton and Malique Ewin each finished with 13 points, as Hampton recorded seven boards and two steals over 34 minutes. The Texans shot a 48.1 percent clip from the floor and dropped in 18 of 22 shots from the free throw line.

"The environment was great, and they have a true home court advantage here, and our guys stayed emotionally steady," South Plains College head coach Hayden Sowers said following the contest. "I told them before the game that everyone outside of our locker room wants us to lose, and we need to stick together and be the tougher team. All the credit to Indian Hills, and they have one of the best environments in junior college basketball, and that's why we wanted to come up here and play.

"You can't get too high or too low, and we had to find ways to just win the next possession. Our guys stayed together and focused on winning the next play. Glen Mayo made an adjustment to one of our rub plays, and we ran it nearly the entire second half, and credit to him for seeing that through work and film study. Part of our strategy is to drive and get to the free throw line, and in the second half, we just kept pounding the ball and forced the refs to make the calls. I'm happy for our guys, and they wanted to win this one."

The Texans would then follow up on Saturday with a 92-70 drumming of Saux Valley, who came into the game unbeaten. Mcghee and Malique Ewin combined for 42 points, as Ewin finished with a season-high 17 boards over 34 minutes.

South Plains will look to stay perfect this weekend when they travel to Hobbs for a road contest against Temple College at 3 p.m. as part of the New Mexico Junior College Classic. The contest will stream live at spctexans.com.