Texans thump Jacksonville College 83-41 Friday in Plano

PLANO — Four Texans scored in double figures Friday as the South Plains College men's basketball team thumped Jacksonville College 83-41 in their first of two games at the Collin County Classic at Cougar Gymnasium.

South Plains improves their record to 3-1 on the season and will be back on the hardwood on Saturday at 10 a.m. against Lamar State College-Port Arthur. The contest will stream live at spctexans.com.

"I thought we guarded well, and we are a team with a lot of length and athleticism," South Plains College head coach Hayden Sowers said. "The thing that stood out to me was our defense. I really challenged our guys after last week, and our guys have responded, and it's what we wanted to see after an early season loss.

"Improvement is what we're looking for, and I thought Kalifa and Malek played well. Their ability to move their feet and defend has really made a difference. I thought our guards played better, and tonight was the first time we have played against a zone, and I thought we got good looks the entire game."

Jaden Harris and Elijah Tate each finished with 13 points for South Plains, while Christian Coleman totaled 11 points and Muon Reath bucketed 10. Ismail Habib tallied nine points, while Chase Henderson tallied eight points and picked two steals.

"We were upset after losing last week, and we wanted to come out and play better all around as a team," Habib said. "We were locked in at practice, and tried to limit the distractions off the court and stay focused. Coach Sowers has had us locked in at practice, and it paid off today and we need to come out again tomorrow and play our game."