ODESSA—Josh Webster recorded a career-high 23 points while Jordan Brangers went 7-of-11 from the floor chipping in 20 points as the No. 1 South Plains College Texans improved to 23-0 on the year and 11-0 in the WJCAC with a 93-80 road win over No. 14 Odessa on Thursday night.
Thursday's victory extends South Plains' conference lead over Odessa to two games with five games remaining in conference play.
"Odessa is a very good team and we knew this was a big game for us," said Webster who was 9-of-12 shooting from the field and also dished out six assists. "It didn't matter how we did it, all we wanted to do was win this game. Anytime you have the top two teams in the conference, you know you're going to get their best game. We just tried to lock in and get the win."
Brangers and Webster, both who will play for Texas Tech University next season dominated the first half as the duo combined for 27 of the Texans' 42 points in the front half. South Plains shot 50 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes and forced the Wranglers to shoot just 1-of-9 from beyond the arc before the break.
"I just tried to take good shots and get into a quick rhythm," said Brangers, who scored in double figures for the 22nd time this season. "I knew early on they weren't going to guard me as tight, and once I hit a couple shots I felt good pretty early. Playing Odessa at their place, we knew they weren't going to go down easy. We came out strong after the half and were able to pull away at about the 10-minute mark."
Sophomore Montell McRae went 4-for-4 from the floor in the second half and totaled nine of his career-high 18 points in the back half. Grantham Gillard came off the bench for South Plains and provided a punch from the perimeter, knocking down three consecutive 3-point balls to extend the Texans' lead. South Plains shot an unprecedented 67 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes including 57 percent from the perimeter.
"Me and Josh just started playing two-on-two ball because they were so focused on our shooters tonight," McRae said. "Our coaches told us to use the pick and rolls and they seemed to work. My coaches told me to dunk everything, so that's what I did. I feel like this is a statement game for us because last year we fell short at the buzzer, and this time we were much more focused on winning."
South Plains will now shift their focus to Monday night when the play host to New Mexico Junior College on Ameriprise Financial VIP Night at the Texan Dome. Tipoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. and can be watched live at spctexans.com