South Plains advances in Region V Tournament

South Plains defeated Temple 86-77, with three players scoring in double digits. Andre Spight led the team with 27 points, Emmanuel Omogbo made 23 points and had 17 rebounds, and Brandon Neel had 18 points and 13 rebounds.

Starting out strong South Plains was dominating the boards on both ends of the court and did not miss a shot for the first eight minutes of the game. This put them in the lead at half, 39-36 over Temple.

Temple put pressure on South Plains creating ties and lead changes between the teams.  With five minutes remaining in the second half Spight makes back-to-back three-pointers that put the Texans ahead by eight points. The Texans held the lead putting them one game closer to a regional championship title.

Round two for South Plains College in the Region V Tournament will begin tomorrow, March 6 at 5:00 pm against a conference rival, New Mexico Junior College after their win over McLennan, 70-67.

The Thunderbirds and Texans have split wins in conference play for this season. South Plains defeated New Mexico JC in the Texan Dome back in January 95-86, but had a one point upset in double overtime at the Thunderbirds home turf.

The game will be streamed live on www.psblive.com and on KLVTradio.com.

Temple (20-11, 7-5)
Keyunta Watkins 7-24 7-8 23, Joe Jackson 5-9 6-11 18, Chad Cantrell 0-2 2-2 2, Marcus Frazier 0-7 2-2 2, Damien Day 1-2 2-2 4, Ray Edwards 2-10 3-4 7, Sterlton Wenner 0-0 0-0 0, Darrian Gilmore 1-3 2-2 4, Cole Price 0-0 0-0 0, Anthony Christ 1-1 0-0 2, Shawn Gulley 6-13 3-3 15. Totals 23-71 27-34 77

South Plains (24-6, 13-3)
Jerron Martin 0-0 0-0 0, Andre Spight 9-17 5-6 27, Lincoln Davis 0-0 0-0 0, Diamante Langston 1-1 2-2 4, Pat Birt 1-10 0-0 2, Emmanuel Omogbo 7-17 9-13 23, Andre Horne 0-2 1-2 1, Brandon Neel 6-16 6-7 18, Marlon Jones 2-2 2-2 6, David Kadiri 1-4 3-4 5. Totals 27-69 28-36 86

FG%: Temple .324, South Plains .391. 3-pt FG:Temple 4-24 (Watkins 2-12, Jackson 2-4, Cantrell 0-1, Frazier 0-3, Day 0-1, Gulley 0-3), South Plains 4-16 (Spight 4-8, Birt 0-7, Horne 0-1). Rebounds: Temple 45 (Edwards 8), South Plains 52 (Omogbo 18). Fouls Temple 24, South Plains 23. Fouled out: none. Technical: none. Assists: Temple 2 (Watkins 2), South Plains 9 (Spight 4, Langston 4). Steals: Temple 6 (Watkins 2, Cantrell 2), South Plains 6 (Omogbo 2). Blocked shots: Temple 0, South Plains 3 (Spight 1, Langston 1, Omogbo 1). Turnovers: Temple 12, South Plains 13. Attendance: 0.