Texans rally from 17 down, stun Frank Phillips 79-74 in overtime Saturday

BORGER — Trailing by as much as 17 in the second half, the South Plains College men's basketball team rallied to knock off Frank Phillips College 79-74 in overtime Saturday at the BCAC Center.  

South Plains improves to 8-7 on the season and 2-1 in league play as they look forward to Monday night when they host New Mexico Junior College at 7:30 p.m. at the Texan Dome. The contest will stream live at spctexans.com and can be heard locally on KLVT Radio AM1230.

Leading 35-32 at the midway point, Frank Phillips exploded with an 18-4 run to begin the second half as they pushed their lead to 53-36 on a layup from Jaheim Tanksley with 12:38 to play. The Texans would claw back, trimming the deficit to 10, 61-51 with 7:07 remaining on a tip-in from DJ Avery.

South Plains would get within six, 64-58  as Kieves Turner floated a runner off the glass, part of his season-high 30 point performance. Turner would then get the Texans within two, 66-64 with a layup with under four minutes to play. The Plainsmen would answer with a 4-0 run, extending their lead back to six, 70-64 on a layup from Tanksley.

South Plains responded one more time, ripping off a 6-0 run as Turner tied the game at 70 apiece with a 3 from the left corner with 41 ticks left. SPC would get a stop on their next defensive possession, setting up an opportunity for a game-winner on the other end.

Turner would drive the lane on the following possession, collapsing the Plainsmen' defense, leaving Marcus Burnett uncovered at the top of the key. Turner would dish it out to Burnett, who got off an uncontested shot with a second left, but it got halfway down and rimmed out, sending the game into overtime.

South Plains won the tip and converted on the first attempt of the extra period as Turner knocked down a triple to put SPC up 73-70. Leading 75-74 with just over a minute to go, Turner connected with a runner from seven feet, giving South Plains a 77-74 advantage, which would prove to be enough in the final seconds.

Turner finished 9 of 17 from the floor, 2 of 4 from distance, and was a perfect 10 of 10 from the charity stripe. Avery totaled a season-high 21 points, knocking down 9 of 13 shots to go along with five boards over 30 minutes. South Plains shot 47.5 percent from the floor, 38.9 percent from 3, and converted 16 of 18 attempts from the free throw line.