LEVELLAND — Christian Coleman recorded a game-high 21 points and 10 boards as No. 10 South Plains dismantled Frank Phillips 65-45 Monday night at the Texan Dome.
The Texans improve to 14-3 on the season and 2-1 in league play and will be on the road Thursday when they take on New Mexico Junior College at 7:30 p.m. MST in Hobbs. The contest will stream live at spctexans.com.
"Any time you win, especially in conference play, it's a whole lot better than losing," South Plains College head coach Hayden Sowers said. "After the Howard game, we tried to figure out what our best defensive lineup was, and we played those guys a lot tonight. I'm really proud of these guys because they are 3-0 after the three losses that we've had. It's all about how you respond."
Coleman finished eight of 11 from the field and four of five from the free throw line over 34 minutes. Jaden Harris poured in 14 points, four assists, and three boards as the Texans shot 52.2 percent from the floor and a season-high 61.5 percent from behind the arc.
"We wanted to get back on track and win this game at home tonight," Coleman said. "We took a bad loss in our last game and wanted to get focused on winning one game. Coach Sowers does a great job of getting me in good positions to score, and that helped me out a lot. We've lost three games by nearly one possession, and that kind of stuff makes you stronger as a team, because we know we can play with anyone, and know we have to lock in on every possession to win those games in the future."
Elijah Tate scored in double figures for the 10th time this season, shooting a perfect 100 percent from the floor, netting 11 points on four of four shots from the field, and was three of three from distance coming off the bench for South Plains. Ismail Habib chipped in eight points, handed out five assists, and snagged five boards over 30 minutes for the Texans.
"We wanted to get the ball inside and get it back out and create shots," Tate said. "We wanted to drive the ball then kick out to our shooters, and we had some success with that tonight. The whole team had a chip on their shoulder coming off our last game, and we wanted to go out and lock in on both ends of the floor. We are looking forward to going on the road again Thursday night and are going to prepare and get ready to go get a win on the road."
The Texans gave the Plainsmen' offense fits throughout the game, as Frank Phillips was forced into 26 turnovers, resulting in 31 points on the offensive end for South Plains. The Texans controlled the interior, netting 30 points inside the paint and outrebounded their counterpart 36-25 on the glass.
"The only thing on the stat sheet you can be disappointed about was the number of turnovers we had, but everything else was fantastic," Sowers said. "We were plus 11 on the glass, shot over 52 percent, but we have to take care of the ball and clean that up. I know what it is, and we will get it fixed and be ready to go on Thursday."