No. 17 Texans clip Western Texas 73-67 Thursday

LEVELLAND — Three players scored in double figures Thursday as No. 17 South Plains took down Western Texas 73-67 at the Texan Dome.

The Texans improve to 22-6 on the year and 10-4 in league play and will travel to Odessa on Monday to square off with the fourth-ranked Wranglers. The contest will air live on ESPN+ and can be heard locally on KLVT Radio AM1230.

"We knew they were going to come in here and play loose, free, and easy, and I thought the game played out like we thought it was going to," South Plains head coach Hayden Sowers said. "We have to continue to get better, and at this time of the year, you take the wins, but have to immediately get ready for the next game. We have two huge games coming up next week, and that's why you come to South Plains – to coach and to play in these types of games."

Trailing 38-37 at the half, South Plains opened the final stint with a 16-2 run to take a 53-40 lead with 12:05 to play following a layup from Awer Awer. Leading by 10 with just over six minutes to play, SPC would watch its lead dwindle to just one, 65-64 on a triple from Mason McBride with 2:04 to go, part of a 9-0 run from the Westerners.

The Texans would answer back, as Muon Reath connect on a 3-ball to put SPC back up five, 69-64 with 46 ticks left. Reath's shot would prove to be the dagger, as South Plains held off Western Texas in the final seconds in their final home game of the season.

"I try to live in the gym, and I have developed trust in my shot," Reath said. "I try to put in as much work as I can, and our coaches see that, so I think they trust me a little bit to make big shots. We have a day off tomorrow to clear our minds, and we will come back in on Saturday and start preparing. We have to put an emphasis on paying attention to the small details, and if we do that, we will be ready to go."

Kalifa Sakho led South Plains on the offensive end, dropping in 18 points to go along with 12 boards over 31 minutes. Ismail Habib poured in 15 points and snagged five rebounds, while Reath tallied 10 points and five boards.

"We've been preaching the last three or four days to move the basketball," Habib said. "That's going to help everyone out, instead of just a couple of people coming up the floor and jacking up shots. We tried to come out aggressive and that's our mindset going into every game. We can't wait for Monday night. We need to take our minds off basketball for a day and get mentally healthy and start fresh on Saturday morning. We want this game, and we will be ready to go."