LEVELLAND—Jordan Brangers knocked down 10 3-pointers and scored a career-high 38 points as the No. 1 South Plains College Texans decimated the New Mexico Military Institute Broncos 108-69 on Thursday night at the Texan Dome.
Brangers finished the contest 14-of-19 from the field and hauled in six rebounds in 32 minutes of action. Grantham Gillard chipped in 17 points going 5-of-9 from the field while Justice Green went 5-for-8 from the floor and bucketed 12 points off the bench.
"I just tried to get started early," Brangers said. "I love playing at home and make sure I'm here every day working out. I felt like once I hit a couple shots I knew it was going to be a really good night."
That it was.
The 6-2 sophomore from Radcliff, Kentucky stepped in front of a pass and took it coast to coast to give South Plains an early 9-3 advantage. The Broncos answered back with a 9-0 run to take a 12-11 lead. It didn't last long as Brangers put the Texans back on top with a 3-ball from the top of the key to push the lead to 14-12.
Gillard extended the lead to 11 with a conversion at the rim while being fouled, converting the and-one and giving the Texans a 36-25 advantage with 5:32 before the break. Green would put the finishing touches on a dominant first half with a 3-ball from the corner to send South Plains into the half leading 52-29.
"I thought we needed to come into tonight and just play under control and do what we do," Green said. "I was just trying to make sure I could contribute to the team the best way I know how. We started sharing the ball and watching the ball go into the hole. We used our defense to create offense and picked up another win."
Raquan Mitchell opened the second half with six consecutive points as the Miami, Florida native capped off a 6-0 run of his own with a left handed lay in on the baseline with under 17 minutes to play to push the lead to 60-31. Brangers found the net from beyond the arc at the 12:24 mark and again with 9:39 left, extending the lead to 81-47.
"I tried to create some separation with the way they were guarding me tonight," Brangers said. "Coach said 'if the shots not there don't force it,' so that's what I tried to do in the second half. I was trying to get other people involved and help out the team."
Ibrahima Diagne topped off the night with a putback at the rim with under three minutes remaining as the Texans improved their record to 25-0 on the year and 13-0 in the WJCAC. South Plains will shift their focus to the Howard Hawks on Monday night in Big Spring before returning home to take on Clarendon next Thursday.
"We kind of prepped for them all week long," South Plains head coach Steve Green said. "New Mexico is a very scrappy athletic team, and they played even with us for the first seven or eight minutes. Jordan got loose for a couple 3s, and I know it has to be disheartening when you're trying to take him out of the game and he has 22 at the half.
"I thought Justice came in and played really well the first half. Montell continued playing well and he's around the glass all the time. Our guards did what our guards do. It's like I said last week, when your leading scorer(Brangers) is turning down shots to pass to open guys, it really builds chemistry on the team and makes everyone else want to do the same."