LEVELLAND—The top-ranked South Plains College Texans placed four players in double figures en route to a 93-62 dismantling of Clarendon College on Thursday night at the Texan Dome.
Jordan Brangers led all scorers with 26 points as the Radcliff, Kentucky native went 8-of-13 from the 3-point line over 23 minutes. Roberto Gallinat went 4-of-8 from the field finishing with 15 points while Shawntrez Davis and Greg Shead each scored 11.
"I was just trying to get in an early rhythm and find some open looks," Brangers said. "Greg found me in transition and helped me get some looks and get going. Coach Green talked to us at halftime that at some point during the season we have to get stops to win. We have Western Texas next week who just recently beat Odessa and took us into overtime at their place, and we want to come out and make a statement in our last game at the Texan Dome."
Brangers got to work early on with a pair of 3s to open the contest and gave South Plains(27-0, 15-0) a 10-3 lead with 14:58 left in the first half. Shead found the bucket on a 3-ball of his own with 11:16 on the clock, pushing the lead to 21-14. Justice Green picked off a bounce pass and slammed it home on the other end to send the Texans into the locker room at the break leading 44-35.
"My first shot went in, and it's always good when that first one goes down," Shead said. "We just tried to push it in transition and get open looks down low. We pushed the ball hard and tried to open up our offense and attack the paint. We have another big one next week against a good ball club, and we need to come out from the beginning and push it like we know how."
Brangers opened the second half with another 3 off an assist from Raquan Mitchell to give South Plains a 49-37 advantage with 18:20 remaining. Clarendon answered back with a 9-0 run as Walker Small hit a trio of 3s to trim the Texans' lead to 49-46 with 16:20 left. South Plains responded with a 5-0 run of their own as Josh Webster attacked the rim and found the bucket to put the Texans in front 54-46 with 13:37 to play.
Webster would then find Montell McRae down low as the 6-foot-8 Cleveland, Ohio native shook the rim and extended the lead to 57-48 with 12:34 remaining. Webster had the answer one more time finding Davis on alley-oop with 5:42 to play, capping off another dominating performance from the top team in the country.
"Coach Green let us know at halftime we needed to pick it up and play our game," Davis said. "We came out in the second half and played our game. We weren't talking on defense and were switching for no reason, and once we figured it our we started playing our game. We wanted to get the ball in the middle and find some open shots. We attacked the basket and came out with another win."