Texans oust Murray State 75-57 Saturday in Plano

 PLANO — The third-ranked South Plains College men's basketball team used a 47-point second half to oust the Murray State College Aggies 75-57 on Saturday at Cougar Hall at the Collin County Thanksgiving Classic.

South Plains placed three scorers in double figures and held the Aggies to just 29 points in the second half. With the win, the Texans improve to 5-3 on the year and will visit Midland on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in their conference opener.

"I thought the first half was very sluggish on both team's parts," South Plains head coach Steve Green said. "We couldn't get any kind of rhythm going on the offensive end, and thank goodness the game was slow enough that they couldn't score many points. We got loose a couple times in the second half and hit a couple shots. When we share the ball we shoot better. When we don't share the ball we don't shoot well — it's pretty simple. We're still a major work in progress."

Jordan Brangers led South Plains with 15 points while Raymond Doby added 14 points off the bench for the orange and blue. Ben Perez knocked down a trio of 3s to finish the contest with 12 points and Chris Orlina chipped in nine.

The Aggies' Cameron Collier led all scorers with 23 points and Jalan Brown trickled in 12. The two teams combined for just 54 points at the midway point before South Plains found its stroke in the second half and went on to lead by as much as 20 in the final stint. Doby and Orlina combined for 17 in the final 20 minutes and Perez tallied eight of his 12 in the back half of the contest.

"We knew we had to come out with a lot of energy in the second half and stay poised," said Doby, who transferred from the University of South Carolina. "We've lost a couple games we shouldn't have and we know we have a lot of work to do. Playing team ball on both ends is something we need to put a focus on. We need to listen to coach Green and stop playing as individuals and start putting more focus on playing as a team."