Antonio and Prim combine for 44 points as top-ranked Texans blast Central Arizona 85-67 Thursday in Arizona

MESA, AZ — Jonah Antonio and Gaige Prim combined for 44 points as the top-ranked South Plains College men's basketball team bested Central Arizona College 85-67 Thursday at Heap Gym on the campus of Mesa Community College in the opening round of the Fiesta Bowl Junior College Shootout.

With the win, South Plains improves to 11-0 on the year and will matchup with No. 7 Salt Lake on Friday at 8 p.m. MST. Friday's contest will be streaming live at spctexans.com.

Prim finished 7 of 17 from the field and grabbed 15 rebounds as the Texans shot 40 percent from the floor in the contest and 32.1 percent from behind the arc. Antonio bucketed 8 of 10 attempts from the floor to go along with nine boards over 32 minutes.

Sophomore Trey Wade poured in 18 points and hauled in 13 rebounds, netting 8 of 20 attempts from the field in 33 minutes of action. South Plains' Chris Orlina finished with nine points, four rebounds, and four assists while Charles Jennings dropped in five points and Christian Wilson tallied four.

South Plains jumped out to a 51-29 lead at the midway point as they shot over 48 percent from the floor in the first half and knocked down seven 3s in the first 20 minutes. Wade netted 14 points in the front half while Prim and Antonio each had nine.

The Texans dominated the glass, outrebounding Central Arizona (3-8) 56-29 in the paint and scored 10 points off nine forced turnovers. JC Canahuate led Central Arizona with 23 points over 36 minutes while Meekness Payne finished with 19 and Richard Polanco chipped in 14 points and 19 boards.