LEVELLAND—The top-ranked South Plains College Texans rode Jordan Brangers' 30-point performance to a 93-72 win over Howard College on Thursday night at the Texan Dome to improve to 18-0 on the season and 6-0 in the Western Junior College Athletic Conference.
Brangers went 10-for-19 from the field and 8-of-15 from beyond the arc in 30 minutes of action, while Josh Webster closed out the game with 10 points, eight boards and eight assists for South Plains. Jahlil Tripp recorded a double-double for the second time in as many games, as the Brooklyn, New York Native bucketed 16 points and hauled in 10 rebounds.
"I was settling too much on my jump shot in the first half, and the coaches told me at halftime to start getting to the basket to open my shot up," Brangers said. "To start the second half I hit one 3 and then I got to the basket, everything else just came easy for me."
South Plains opened the contest with an 8-0 run capped off by a conversion at the bucket from Webster. A 3 from Tripp at the 9:59 mark of the first half extended the Texans' lead to 28-15. Raquan Mitchell found the net with a 3 from the corner with 9:15 left before the break to push the lead to 31-15.
The Texans would go on to take a 44-36 lead into the locker room at the break after shooting 45 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes.
"I played good, but it's not about me, it's about me and my teammates, and getting the win is all I'm worried about," Webster said. "I don't care if I have two points or 30 points, all I want is a win. It makes my life a lot easier playing with him (Brangers), and Jordan is where I get a lot of my assists from. He's a hard worker and always in the gym, and that's why you see a lot of his shots going down."
After scoring just six points in the first half, Brangers found his stroke in the final 20 minutes, knocking down six of his game-high eight 3s in the final stint. Brangers opened the second half with a 3 ball from the left wing to push the Texans' lead to 47-36 with 19:34 remaining. Another trey from Brangers, this one coming from the left corner with 16:16 to play extended the lead to 59-40.
Brangers would hit yet again, this time from NBA territory with 9:27 left in regulation, giving the Texans a 71-53 advantage. Howard would try and claw their way back into the game with a 9-2 run late in the second half as Marcel Cherry hit a 3 with 6:30 to play which cut the lead to 73-62.
It only seemed to make things worse, however, as the Texans responded with a 14-5 run of their own, ending with another 3 from Brangers with 2:16 left, increasing the lead to 87-67 and erasing all hopes of any late game heroics.
"I thought we played well enough to get ahead and kind of hold onto the lead," South Plains head coach Steve Green said. "We got exposed on some things tonight, but all in all we made some shots.
"I think they wanted to play slow and try and keep it in the 60s and 70s, and they did. Jordan hit a couple bombs, and that kind of brings you out of it a little bit."
The Texans will look to remain perfect when they travel to Clarendon College on Monday night. Tipoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. and can be watched live at spctexans.com using the 'Watch Games' tab at the top of the page.