Levelland— The South Plains College Texans dropped an 81-79 heartbreaker to Seward Community College Wednesday night at the Texan Dome.
Che Bob had a double-double for the Texans, racking up 26 points and 17 rebounds, while Justice Green had 18 points and five boards.
Sewards' Niem Stevenson finished with 30 points, including the game winning layup with no time left in regulation. Marcus Mathieu finished with 19 points for the Saints, and Delano Jones scored 18.
SPC jumped out to an early 22-8 lead with just under 14 minutes left in the first half, knocking down six of their first seven threes from long distance. The Saints eventually battled back and trimmed the lead to 28-18 with 11 minutes to go in the first period.
Seward eventually cut the Texans lead to five with 24 seconds remaining, giving the Texans a 48-43 lead heading into halftime. Bob finished the first frame with 13 points and nine boards, while Green had 11 in the first 20 minutes.
The second half saw much of the same as both sides traded buckets early on. Stevenson connected on back-to-back threes to cut the Texans' lead to 57-56 with 12:14 left to play.
After the Saints took their first lead with just under nine minutes left in regulation, Bob made one of two free-throws to regain a 67-66 lead for the Texans. Bob would then push the lead to three with a two handed slam with just under eight minutes left.
Seward would once again battle back to tie the game at 76 a piece with 2:21 left to play, before Green would recapture the lead for the Texans on a layup with 1:52 remaining. With each team dead locked at 79 with under 20 seconds left, Seward had possession and the last shot.
The Texans closed off the paint and forced the Saints to kick the ball out to James Byrd in the left corner for a contested three which came up short. Stevenson eventually came away with the rebound for Seward and was able to lay in a bucket as the clock expired, giving the Saints a two-point win.
South Plains will look to get back in the win column this weekend as they host the SPC Classic beginning on November 20. The Texans will square off with Collin County Community College at 6 p.m. on Friday, followed by a matchup with Wayland Baptist JV at 1 p.m. on Saturday.