LEVELLAND— This is a conference championship game.

That was the message South Plains College head coach Steve Green relayed to his team prior to Thursday night's matchup with conference leader Odessa College.

It's safe to say that mindset resonated with his squad, as the Texans answered the call and downed the No. 17 Wranglers 71-63 to take a share of the Western Junior College Athletic Conference lead Thursday night at the Texan Dome.

"It's a conference championship game," Green said. "If we're fortunate enough to be there and have a chance to win the league, you have to win this game. You've got to win your home games, and the New Mexico game is the one that keeps me up at night, and this one would have been another one. I could see this one going either way."

Jerron Love had the hot hand once again for the Texan' offense, as the 5-foot-10 freshman guard led all scores with 13 points, while also dishing out three assists and scavenging three steals.

"We knew we had to win this game, no matter what," Love said. "I was just proud of the team for having the same mindset, and we were all on the same page. We played as one instead of five, and that was part of practice this week, play as one, and play together."

South Plains (17-7, 8-3) went on an 8-2 run to kick things off capped off by a jumper from Deontae North, who finished the contest with 11 points and four rebounds.Che Bob connected on a 3-pointer from the right wing to keep the Texans in front 21-17 at the 11:51 mark in the first half.

Following a 12-2 run from the Wranglers, North would put the Texans back on top with a seven-foot jumper to give the Texans a 32-21 lead with three minutes remaining, before taking a 37-33 lead into the break.

"I'm really excited, we put ourselves in a good position in the league now," North said. "We're tied for first place, and we control our own destiny again, now we just need to go out and win games. We wanted to give everything we had, and we kind of played with a sense of desperation, because we knew this was a really important game. They were sitting at first place in the league, and we wanted to go out and change that."

Odessa (19-5, 8-3) began the second half with a 6-0 run to kickoff the final 20 minutes, but a three from Love would recapture a two-point 48-46 lead for the Texans with 12:54 left. Roberto Gallinat sent the crowd into a frenzy, with back-to-back monstrous two-handed slam dunks to push the Texans lead to 55-50 with nine minutes remaining.

"I was trying to send a message that we're attacking," Gallinat said. "We're not on our heels anymore. We're attacking. We beat them because we played together, and the first time it was shaky in some areas. This time, I feel like it was a full team effort."

Following Gallinat's dunks, the Texans would never surrender their lead and went on to lead by as much as 11 points with 7:37 remaining in the game. Odessa would string together a late 6-0 run, but another 3-pointer from Love ending any hopes of late game heroics for the Wranglers, setting up a crucial matchup for the Texans on Monday when they travel to New Mexico Junior College, with tipoff set for 7:30 p.m.

"I didn't think that anyone was going to win this league undefeated this year," Green said. "Particularly after we went to Odessa and got beat at the buzzer so to speak, I think it's just too evenly matched this year.

"I thought it was a much better basketball game than the one down there. I think both teams played better. They played tougher down there and won, and I think we beat a really really good team tonight."