Texans Advance To Championship Round In Mesa

Mesa— It was a 10-point halftime lead the Texans saw dwindle away in the first two minutes of the second half.

Baltimore City knocked down consecutive threes while drawing a foul on each attempt and connected on the free throws for back-to-back four-point plays to trim the Texans' lead to just two points.

South Plains head coach Steve Green called for a timeout and stepped in the middle of the huddle to address his team. Whatever was said inside that huddle over the next 60 seconds seemed to hit home, loud and clear.

The Texans found the bucket on their next two offensive possessions to push their lead back to six, which was the closest the Panthers would get in the next 18 minutes to follow. South Plains would go on to lead by as much as 23 points, capping off an 85-63 drumming to send the Texans to the championship game of the 2015 Fiesta Bowl Junior College Shootout.

"I thought we played really good in the first seven or eight minutes of the first half and got a lead, then kind of got away from what we were doing," Green said. "We went small in the second half and took some of our big guys out, and that team was really scrappy and they forced a bunch of stuff, but we were able to get in there and make some plays.

"Che Bob has become a man inside, and he's really playing well and he's a big time athlete that can score on the outside and cause a lot of problems for people. He's kind of picked up the slack for us on the inside, and when you're missing one of your guys it gives other players an opportunity to step up and do something."

Despite the absence of sophomore forward Marlon Jones, the Texans outscored their opponent 38-20 inside the paint on Tuesday night. Roberto Gallinat went 8-for-13 from the field en route to a 29 point 10 rebound double-double performance for the Texans.

Deontae North finished with 16 points for South Plains, while Jerron Love went 3-for-5 from long range, racking up 11 points, two assists and two steals. Che Bob scored eight points and hauled in seven rebounds, six coming on the defensive side of the ball, while Montell McRae totaled six points and six rebounds.

"I think we have to play really smart tomorrow night against a really good team that spreads the floor and shoots a lot of threes," Green said. "I'm looking forward to the challenge, and I think they're a really clever team that plays the game the way the rule makers want the game played now. I think it will be a really fun game, and even more fun if we can win it."

Now on an eight game win streak, the Texans will look to push that mark to nine when they square off with Big Bend Community College Wednesday night with tipoff set for 8 p.m. MST.