Third-ranked Texans run away from Clarendon in second half

LEVELLAND – Freshman Andre Spight scored a team high 22 points, Ryan Martin andRoderick Lawrence each added 18 and the NJCAA third-ranked South Plains College Texans dominated Clarendon College in the second half to run away with an 89-69 victory Monday night at the Texan Dome.

South Plains (17-1, 4-0 WJCAC) now has sole possession of first place in the league standings. 

Clarendon (5-11, 0-3) gave the Texans all they could handle in a fast-paced first half in which the Texans seemed to control most of, but just could not quite get away from the Bulldogs. 

South Plains led by as many as seven points three different times, but Clarendon was able to fight their way back. 

Late in the first half, Lawrence completed a three-point play to give the Texans a seven-point lead with only 1:33 remaining, but Clarendon closed out the half on a 6-0 run and the Texans went to the locker room up only a point, 41-40. 

The second half was a different story. 

Up only two in the opening minutes of the back half, Spight grabbed an offensive rebound to keep their possession alive and Emmanuel Omogbo found Sekou Harris for a basket in the paint that began an 11-2 scoring run, giving the Texans a 58-47 advantage. 

After Clarendon fought back to within four, Harris and Spight sandwiched a couple of 3s around two free throws by Ryan Martin that put the Texans back up 66-54. 

Clarendon would never get within single digits again as the Texans outscored the Bulldogs 31-15 in the final 10 minutes of the game to run away with the victory. 

Harris finished the game with 10 points for his fourth consecutive game with a double-digit effort.  Billydee Williams chipped in with nine and Emmanuel Omogbo scored eight. 

As a team, the Texans made 32-of-71 (.451) shots from the field and outrebounded Clarendon 39-23. 

The Texans return to the court Thursday, Jan. 16 when they travel to Roswell, N.M. to take on the New Mexico Military Broncos.  Game time is set for 6:30 p.m. mountain time and will be broadcast live on 1230 AM KLVT Radio with Michael Wiiest on the call.  

New Mexico Military is 10-6 overall and 0-4 in conference play. 

Conference scores:  South Plains 89, Clarendon 69; Western Texas 71, Midland 52; Howard 69, Frank Phillips 49; New Mexico 81, Odessa 72

Clarendon (5-11, 0-3)
D'Yonne Luke 1-2 0-0 3, Mario Garcia 8-10 2-2 23, Melvin Mitchell 0-3 4-4 4, Hershell Grant 1-8 0-0 2, Wyatt Sippy 1-1 0-0 3, Christian O'Neal 1-5 2-2 5, Dashun Dixon 2-2 0-0 5, Nate Lewis 3-7 2-2 8, DeAngelo James 2-7 3-3 7, Predrag Stolica 1-2 0-0 2, Chiza Ntirata 3-6 0-0 7. Totals 23-53 13-13 69

South Plains (17-1, 4-0)
Andre Spight 7-18 5-6 22, Billydee Williams 4-10 0-0 9, Sekou Harris 4-5 1-1 10, Clayton Jones 0-2 0-0 0, Emmanuel Omogbo 1-6 6-6 8, Roderick Lawrence 7-17 1-1 18, Cedrick McAfee 0-0 0-0 0, Ryan Martin 7-9 4-5 18, Michael Karena 2-2 0-1 4, Pedro Konofino 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 32-71 17-20 89

FG%: Clarendon .434, South Plains .451. 3-pt FG:Clarendon 10-22 (Luke 1-2, Garcia 5-7, Mitchell 0-1, Grant 0-2, Sippy 1-1, O'Neal 1-3, Dixon 1-1, James 0-3, Ntirata 1-2), South Plains 8-29 (Spight 3-11, Williams 1-5, Harris 1-1, Jones 0-1, Lawrence 3-9, Konofino 0-2). Rebounds: Clarendon 23 (Ntirata 4), South Plains 39 (Williams 10). Fouls Clarendon 17, South Plains 17. Fouled out: none. Technical: South Plains Coach, Garcia. Assists: Clarendon 13 (Luke 4, O'Neal 4), South Plains 21 (Spight 7, Harris 7). Steals: Clarendon 6 (Mitchell 4), South Plains 11 (Spight 5). Blocked shots: Clarendon 0, South Plains 2 (Williams 1, Karena 1). Turnovers: Clarendon 19, South Plains 12.