PLANO — The South Plains College men's basketball team suffered its first loss of the season Friday, falling to #9 Panola 87-70 at the Cougar Gymnasium.

The Texans move to 5-1 on the season and will return on the floor on Saturday at 2 p.m. against Angelina. The contest will stream live at spctexans.com

South Plains' Arterio Morris, who suffered a game-ending groin injury late in the first half, totaled 15 points in the first 20 minutes. Isaac Taveras finished with 18 points for the Texans, who were without starting point guard Caleb Blackwell Friday.

"We flat out got beat, and as the head coach, this one is one me," South Plains head coach Hayden Sowers said. "I have to get our team better prepared. For 19 minutes our guys followed the game plan, and we were up by 15 on a top 10 team. For the other 21 minutes, we tried to go one-on-one, and that won't work against a team like Panola.

"We scored 43 in the first half and 27 in the second half, and it was clear we executed in the first half and didn't execute in the second half, and you can't beat a good team doing that. We will see how tough we are – we have a quick turnaround and play a well-coached Angelina team tomorrow, and nobody will feel sorry for us. It is ultimately on me as the head coach to reach these guys, and I will have them better prepared."