Texans earn WJCAC Championship with 94-78 victory over Odessa
LEVELLAND – Sophomore Roderick Lawrence scored a team high 19 points to lead six Texans scoring in double figures and the South Plains College Texans claimed their 12th conference title in school history by defeated the Odessa College Wranglers 94-78 Thursday evening at the Texan Dome.
Entering the game, South Plains was assured they would represent the WJCAC as the top seed at the Region 5 Tournament, but needed a win against the Wranglers to own the conference title outright.
The Texans (26-4, 13-3) will face Collin County at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 5 during Region 5 quarterfinal action at Lubbock Christian University's Rip Griffin Center, a team they defeated twice during the regular season.
Odessa had everything to play for Thursday night at the Texan Dome. A victory would have extended their season, while a loss that was coupled with a Western Texas win over Howard ultimately ended it.
The Westerners defeated Howard 70-66.
Fans at the Texan Dome got their money's worth for much of the game. The contest saw nine ties and 11 lead changes until the Texans took control of the game.
South Plains led by two, 50-48, coming out of the 14-minute media timeout but went on a 12-3 run soon after that was capped by a three from Lawrence.
Odessa would not give the Texans a serious threat the rest of the way as South Plains would lead by as many as 19 before settling for a 16-point victory.
Following the game, the Texans participated in a net-cutting ceremony the celebrate winning the conference championship.
The Texans had plenty of contributors Thursday night with six players scoring in double figures. Sekou Harris scored 16, Andre Spight had 15 and Billydee Williams came off the bench to add 14. Emmanuel Omogbo and Michael Karena chipped in with 11 and 10 points and Ryan Martin just missed being a seventh player in double digits with nine.
Lawrence had an all-around game. In addition to his 19 points, Lawrence grabbed 10 rebounds and dished out seven assists.