Posted: Mar 10, 2009
LUBBOCK, Texas - The South Plains College Texans entered the Rip Griffin Center for their 7:30 p.m. tip-off against Midland College hoping to repeat as Region V Champions and go onto Kansas to defend their NJCAA crown. It was not to be, however, as the Texans fell to Midland College 75-63. South Plains finishes the 2008-09 basketball campaign with a record of 27-4.
The Texans found themselves in an early hole in the first half as Midland jumped out to a 25-12 lead 13-minutes into the contest. The Texans stormed back into the game by outscoring the Chaparrals 16-4 over the final 7-minutes to go to the locker room down by only a point, 29-28.
The Texans struck first in the second half on a Landon Tatum layup to take their first lead of the game. Midland struck back 30-seconds later as Garret Lever found Marlon Louzeiro in the lane and Louzeiro completed the layup. Hugh Mingo then came back to the other end and ripped a 3-pointer to give the Texans a 2-point lead.
The second half went back and forth and had the two teams exchanging leads ten times and saw six tie scores, the last of which was 58-58 with 3:37 left in regulation. Unfortunately for SPC, Midland outscored the Texans 17-5 for the remainder of the game to take the Region 5 Championship.
Sophomore guard David Tairu led the Texans with 19-points in just under 32-minutes of play. Bo Ingram shot 5-of-9 from the field and 6-of-7 from the charity strip for 17-points. Hugh Mingo and Markhuri Sanders-Frison also scored in double digits for SPC with 13 and 10-points, respectively. Landon Tatum added eight assists.