No. 2 Texans go 2-0 in Oklahoma, down Murray State 72-55 Monday

LEVELLAND — The second-ranked South Plains College men's basketball team improved to 3-0 on the season Monday night, defeating Murray State College 72-55 in their final game of the Mitchell/Mullen's Elite 8 in Enid, Oklahoma.

The Texans will look for a quick turnaround as they head to Plano Nov. 10-11 for the Collin County Classic. South Plains will take on Lee College at 2 p.m. on Friday, before a 6 p.m. tip against Navarro on Saturday. Both games will stream live at spctexans.com.

"The goal coming up here was to put together two 1-0 performances," South Plains head coach Hayden Sowers said. "Sunday, we came from behind, and it was great to see our guys fight for 40 minutes. We learned a few lessons from that game that we were able to take into Monday's game. I thought the guys really took a step forward defensively tonight, which I was most proud of. We have to continue to get better because we play a ranked team on Friday in Dallas."

Sophomore forward Jalen Hampton led all scorers with 27 points, scoring 20 in the second half for South Plains. Jabori McGhee finished with 18 points, including 10 in the back half of the contest.

"We played together offensively this weekend and made the right plays," Hampton said. "We played with chemistry, and had successful offensively pushing the ball in transition to create easy points at the rim, and our shooters were making shots."

The Texan's matchup on Friday against No. 24 Lee College will draw eyes from across the country, after the Navigators went on the road and knocked off No. 10 Southern Idaho on Nov. 4. Both teams enter the contest unbeaten in an early season top 25 matchup.

"Offensively, we did our best to execute the game plan and make adjustments when needed," McGhee said. "I feel like our offense is molding into something great, and we have a lot of talented guy who play unselfishly. We were able to use the space we created to have some success, and had success scoring both inside and out."