LEVELLAND — The South Plains College men's basketball team fell 1-1 in conference play Thursday night as Howard College edged the Texans 55-45 at the Texan Dome.

Now 7-7 overall, SPC will look to get back in the win column on Saturday when they travel to Borger to take on Frank Phillips College at 3:45 p.m. The game will stream live at spctexans.com. 

The Texans jumped out a 4-0 lead early on, but an 8-2 run from Howard would give the Hawks an 8-6 advantage with 14:15 to play in the first half. Howard would control the first half, taking a 28-18 lead in the locker room after 20 minutes.

The Hawks extended their lead to 30-18 early in the second half on a jumper from Rahkiem Patterson with 19:01 remaining. South Plains answered with a 5-0 run, trimming the deficit to six, 30-24 after Jaden Harris hit a one and one following a made bucket with just under 18 minutes to play.

Howard would push its lead back to nine, 39-30 at the 12:20 mark following a layup from D'Mari Wiltz. SPC would once again get within striking distance, cutting the deficit to five, 44-39 following a 3 from Marcus Burnett with 8:34 left. Howard responded with a 6-0 run over the next six minutes, taking a commanding 50-39 lead with 2:19 to go on a pair of free throws from Wiltz.

Savion Gallion led SPC with nine points and six boards over 36 minutes, while Jaden Harris provided nine points and four rebounds coming off the bench. Patterson led all scorers with 16 points and snagged six rebounds, while Wiltz finished with 14 points, seven rebounds, and four assists. The Texans shot 30 percent from the floor in the contest and were 3 of 17 from distance. Howard shot 34.5 percent from the field and was just 3 of 20 from the 3-point line.