Balanced offensive attack leads Texans to 84-78 victory over Howard Thursday

LEVELLAND — Jaden Harris scored a team-high 27 points and five Texans netted double figures Thursday as No. 15 South Plains outlasted Howard 84-78 at the Texan Dome.

With the win, SPC improves to 19-5 on the year and 7-3 in league play and will be back on the floor on Monday when they travel to Borger to take on Frank Phillips at 7:30 p.m.

"This felt like a region tournament game," South Plains College head coach Hayden Sowers said. "We got up, they came back, and the team that makes the most plays usually wins the game, and our guys did that tonight. They showed some resiliency and toughness, and they figured out a way to win."

SPC jumped out to a 41-29 lead at the midway point but would see its lead cut to just five, 43-38 on a 3 from Trey Fort with just under 17 minutes to go. Howard would then get within two, 57-55 on a 3 from Jojo Freeman with 12:14 to play.

The Texans answered and pushed their lead back to eight, 65-57 on a layup from Ismail Habib with 10:02 left. Howard responded with a 13-6 run capped by a 3 from Dontae Horn to cut the deficit to a single possession, 72-71 with 4:44 remaining.

Trading baskets over the next two and a half minutes, South Plains' Muon Reath knocked down a 3 from the left corner to give SPC a 79-75 cushion with just 1:34 to play. Howard would get within three in the final seconds following a triple from Horne, but a free throw from Elijah Tate put SPC up four, 82-78 with 13 ticks left.

"Muon Reath is a winner," Sowers said. "He does everything right, doesn't cause one problem off the court, and that guy is a winner. Wherever he goes after this he will make a huge impact. He works his tail off, he's always in the gym, and that's how basketball works – he's just reaping the rewards of the work he puts in."

SPC shot a 46.9 percent clip from the field as Harris finished six of 18 from the field and was 13 of 14 from the free throw line. Malek Abdelgowad finished with 11 points and 13 boards while Habib tallied 11 points and Reath chipped in 10.

"We were able to get into a nice rhythm at the beginning of the game and hit some shots early on," Abdelgowad said. "Coach Sowers told us to get into the gaps and get in the lanes defensively, and they have a lot of good shooters, but we were able to slow them down just enough in the end. I wanted to help our team win and get our shooters second chances off rebounds, and we found a way to win tonight."