WEATHERFORD — The South Plains College men's basketball team will play for the region title come Saturday after defeating Odessa 63-53 on Friday in the semifinal round of the Region V Tournament at the Betty Jo Graber Athletic Center.
The top-seeded Texans will face a familiar foe in second-seeded Clarendon College, who took down New Mexico Junior College in double overtime on Friday night. The matchup will be the third this season between the conference rivals, with the first two matchups going to South Plains during the regular season. Tip-off is slated for 4:30 p.m., and the contest will stream live at spctexans.com via the TSBN Sports Network.
"Any time you win in the postseason it's a good thing regardless of the opponent, but that was an absolute war," South Plains head coach Hayden Sowers said. "Odessa is a really good team, and to beat them three times is a great accomplishment. We have earned the right to play the most important 40 minutes of this tournament tomorrow in the championship, and we're going to get locked in and get ready for tomorrow."
The Texans shot a 43 percent clip from the field, led by sophomores Jabori McGhee and Jalen Hampton who each finished with 19 points. Malique Ewin recorded 15 points and 12 boards over 35 minutes for South Plains, his 12th consecutive game scoring in double figures.
"When our guys are locked in they can beat anyone in the country," Sowers said. "The challenge is trying to get them locked in every day. I knew within the first three possessions our guys were ready for the fight, and once you can get talent ready to play, you can win a lot of games. Odessa does a great job slowing the game down, and they do a great job taking away our strengths. We were able to make more plays down the stretch, and that's why we won. We're going to get focused on tomorrow and try and bring home a region championship back to Levelland."
The Texans won the battle in the interior, outrebounding the Wranglers 30-26 on the glass and scored 24 points inside the paint. South Plains forced nine turnovers in the contest and netted 15 points on second-chance opportunities. Come Saturday, the Texans will be looking to win their second region title in the last three years, the previous coming on March 5, 2022, when the Texans took down top-seeded Odessa in Lubbock.