Texans down Snow College 85-81 on Thursday in Arizona

MESA, Ariz. — The South Plains College men's basketball team placed four players in double figures on Thursday as they opened the second half of the season with an 85-81 win over Snow College at the Fiesta Bowl Junior College Shootout at Heap Gymnasium.

With the win, South Plains improves to 8-3 on the year and will matchup with ninth-ranked Southern Idaho (15-1) at 8 p.m. MST on Friday. Southern Idaho beat San Bernardino Valley 82-66 on Thursday to advance to the semifinals. 

"Being back for three days and trying to play, this was a good win, and we did some things I thought were pretty good," South Plains head coach Steve Green said. "Tomorrow will be a big test, and this first game our guys come back excited, and now that that edge has been knocked off, we'll definitely see more tomorrow. They (Southern Idaho) are going to try and pressure you and run some different defensive schemes, and they play very similar to Western Texas."

South Plains' Isaiah Maurice recorded 17 boards and eight rebounds over 22 minutes as the Texans shot 50 percent (29-58) from the field and 50 percent (9-18) from 3 in the contest. Jordan Brangers led the Texans in scoring with 23 points on 7 of 13 shooting including 18 points in the front half.

Ben Perez poured in 12 points to go along with six boards and three assists in 18 minutes played while Deshawn Corprew tallied 11 points and corralled eight boards over 27 minutes for the Texans.

South Plains used a 58 percent (17-29) shooting mark in the first half to take a seven point, 45-38 lead in the locker room at the midway point. Maurice and Christopher Orlina combined for 12 points and seven boards in the first 20 minutes as the Texans outrebounded the Badgers 17-11 after one half.

Perez and Corprew combined for 16 points and 10 rebounds in the back half as the Texans shot 41 percent (12-29) from the field and posted a 57 percent (4-7) mark from the perimeter. South Plains forced the Badgers into 10 turnovers which resulted in 15 points on the offensive end. The Texans received 33 points off the bench and outscored Snow 30-22 inside the paint.  

Logan Hokanson led Snow with 23 points on 8 of 12 shooting and was 6 of 9 from behind the arc. Jake Walker tallied 20 points over 32 minutes for the Badgers, knocking down 6 of 13 shots from the field and was 5 of 9 from 3.