Texans remain undefeated with victories over Baltimore City and Collin County

LEVELLAND – The South Plains College Texan basketball team played their first two home games of the season over the weekend, picking up wins in both to remain undefeated on the season. 

South Plains (9-0) withstood a late rally by Baltimore to defeat the Panthers 68-64 Friday night and then had to put together a rally themselves to earn the 83-76 victory over Collin County Saturday afternoon. 

After building a nine-point lead in the first 10 minutes and then a 14-point lead by halftime, it looked like the Texans would have little trouble against their opponent from the east coast. 

Down by 16, 47-31, Baltimore City closed the gap to just a single point with a furious 19-4 run in which they made 9-of-12 shots from the field.  The Texans made only 2-of-7 shots in the same timeframe and turned the ball over five times. 

South Plains responded with a run of their own. 

Roderick Lawrence sank a pair of free throws and then hit a 3.  Ryan Martin put the Texans up eight with a basket in the paint and with 6:18 to go in the game the Texans were back in control 58-50. 

Lawrence led all scorers versus Baltimore City with 21 points while playing the entire 40 minutes.  

South Plains fell behind early in their Saturday afternoon contest against Region 5 rival Collin County.  After making three free throws in the opening two minutes, the Texans' first field goal would not come until a 3-point goal by Billydee Williams nearly six minutes into the contest. 

Until Williams hit the 3, the Texans were 0-of-10 from the field. 

South Plains trailed by as many as 15 points before mounting their comeback. 

Down 36-21 with 5:04 to go in the first half, South Plains outscored the Cougars 16-4 the rest of the way.  Collin County made only 1-of-8 shots from the field in the final minutes as South Plains cut their deficit to 40-37 as the teams went to the locker room. 

Andre Spight gave the Texans their first lead since the opening minutes of the game with a bucket in the paint, making the score 45-44 with 15:07 left on the clock.  

South Plains would build a lead as large as seven on multiple occasions, but the game went down to the wire as a 3-pointer by Collin's Bryon Miller made it a one-possession game, 79-76, with time ticking down. 

With less than 20 seconds to go in the game, Collin was forced to foul, sending Ryan Martinto the line. 

A 60-percent shooter from the foul line a year ago, Martin has vastly improved in his second season with the Texans making 32-of-36 entering Saturday's game.  Martin was probably the wrong person to send to the line in this situation as he had already made 12-of-13 in the game. 

Martin sank both to seal the victory and give South Plains their ninth straight win to start the season. 

Williams came off the bench to lead all scorers with 29 points and provided the spark that got the Texans going offensively.  Williams made 10-of-22 shots from the field and played the entire second half. 

If Saturday was any indication, the Texans will be in for another battle when they travel to Plano for a rematch with the Cougars at 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 29.  South Plains will play Weatherford at 4 p.m. Saturday in their final test before opening conference play Saturday, Dec. 7 against Western Texas at 3 p.m. in the Texan Dome.

Baltimore City (3-2)
Kevin Moore 0-2 0-0 0, Brian Kelleyh 5-8 2-3 12, Xavier Richards 9-17 1-2 19, DaJuan Dent 1-2 0-0 2, Keaton Mack 1-2 0-0 3, Kavon Pyatt 8-14 0-0 16, John Majors 3-7 0-0 6, Cortell Henson 0-1 0-2 0, Terry Harris 2-11 1-2 6. Totals 29-64 4-9 64

South Plains (8-0)
Michael Karena 1-1 0-0 2, Ryan Martin 6-8 4-4 16, Roderick Lawrence 8-21 5-6 23, Malik Nichols 2-3 1-2 5, Darrel Lucky 0-0 0-0 0, Cedrick McAfee 3-6 0-0 6, Emmanuel Omogbo1-1 0-0 2, Clayton Jones 0-0 0-0 0, Sekou Harris 1-5 0-0 2, Billydee Williams 4-9 1-2 10,Andre Spight 1-9 0-0 2. Totals 27-63 11-14 68

FG%: Baltimore City .453, South Plains .429. 3-pt FG:Baltimore City 2-9 (Moore 0-1, Kelleyh 0-1, Richards 0-2, Mack 1-1, Pyatt 0-1, Harris 1-3), South Plains 3-23 (Lawrence 2-10, McAfee 0-2, Harris 0-1, Williams 1-5, Spight 0-5). Rebounds: Baltimore City 30 (Pyatt 7, Majors 7), South Plains 37 (Martin 9). Fouls Baltimore City 14, South Plains 13. Fouled out: none. Technical: none. Assists: Baltimore City 8 (Pyatt 4), South Plains 10 (Harris 5). Steals: Baltimore City 8 (Kelleyh 2, Richards 2, Harris 2), South Plains 7 (Williams 3). Blocked shots: Baltimore City 6 (Harris 6), South Plains 3 (Martin 1, Lawrence 1, Omogbo 1). Turnovers: Baltimore City 18, South Plains 18.

Collin County (4-4)
Jeffrey Rodewald 4-7 0-1 9, Joseph Gonzalez 1-4 4-4 6, Bryon Miller 1-4 2-2 5, Michael King 0-2 0-0 0, Stephen Buckner 1-10 0-0 2, Josh Wilchcombe 1-2 0-0 2, Tyler McLeod 7-18 9-12 23, Charles Brakes 0-0 0-0 0, Jerrell Reid 4-6 0-0 11, Kent High 2-3 2-2 8, Tyrone Davis 3-7 2-3 10, Barry McCary 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-64 19-24 76

South Plains (9-0)
Michael Karena 0-1 1-2 1, Ryan Martin 1-5 14-15 16, Brandon Neel 0-0 0-0 0, Roderick Lawrence 0-7 0-0 0, Malik Nichols 0-0 1-2 1, Cedrick McAfee 2-7 0-2 6, Emmanuel Omogbo 4-4 1-1 9, Clayton Jones 0-2 1-2 1, Sekou Harris 0-5 0-0 0, Billydee Williams 10-22 4-5 29, Andre Spight 9-20 1-6 20. Totals 26-73 23-35 83

FG%: Collin County .375, South Plains .356. 3-pt FG:Collin County 9-22 (Rodewald 1-2, Gonzalez 0-2, Miller 1-3, King 0-1, Buckner 0-2, Wilchcombe 0-1, McLeod 0-1, Reid 3-3, High 2-3, Davis 2-3, McCary 0-1), South Plains 8-29 (Lawrence 0-2, McAfee 2-4, Jones 0-2, Harris 0-1, Williams 5-15, Spight 1-5). Rebounds: Collin County 35 (Rodewald 9), South Plains 56 (Martin 13). Fouls Collin County 26, South Plains 21. Fouled out: Rodewald . Technical: none. Assists: Collin County 13 (Buckner 3, McLeod 3), South Plains 13 (Harris 5). Steals: Collin County 6 (Davis 2), South Plains 5 (Williams 2, Spight 2). Blocked shots: Collin County 3 (Rodewald 2), South Plains 5 (Williams 2). Turnovers: Collin County 13, South Plains 14.