SPC basketball teams set for first WJCAC road contest with New Mexico

January 8, 2014

LEVELLAND – The SPC Texan and Lady Texan basketball teams will travel to Hobbs, N.M. Thursday, where they will face their first conference road tests of the year against the No. 7-ranked T-Bird men and the T-Bird women.

Both the Texans and Lady Texans enter the contests with unblemished conference records at 2-0.

The men's game will feature two teams ranked in the top-7 nationally, though the T-Birds recently dropped a 63-48 decision to Western Texas that is not reflected in the latest polls. New Mexico was without their leading scorer Jeff Newberry in the loss and assistant coachHank Plona believes the Texans are likely to see a different team.

Newberry is a 6-foot-2 point guard that is expected to attend Oklahoma State next year.

"He changes the team and, obviously, going over there to New Mexico in that gym where it is usually a very tough environment they try to speed you up and play physical and force us to make mistakes," said Plona when talking about the challenge that lies ahead for the Texans. "We have to make sure that we are the aggressive team, that we are putting pressure on them."

The Texans (15-1, 2-0) split with New Mexico last year, losing 60-47 in Hobbs before defeating the T-Birds in overtime 73-69 in the back half of the conference schedule.

The Lady Texans (8-7, 2-0) tied with New Mexico and Midland for last year's WJCAC championship and a win against the Lady T-Birds Thursday night would give the SPC women sole possession of first place in the conference standings as both teams are currently 2-0 in league play.

New Mexico is 9-3 overall and coming off a 56-24 shellacking of Western Texas College. The Lady Texans recently rallied from a 10-point first half deficit Monday night against Howard.

Lady Texan head coach Michelle Wyatt said both teams are very similar in talent and style of play and certainly understands what it is like to play in Hobbs.

"It's a tough place to play, it always has been," Wyatt said. "I think we will be as ready as we can be."

The Lady Texans also split with New Mexico a season ago. In their first meeting on the road, South Plains came up two points short in a game they rallied from 21 down. When the two teams played at the Texan Dome, the Lady Texans defeated New Mexico by 15, 76-61.

Live video of both games can be accessed at www.spctexans.com and live audio will also be available on 1230AM KLVT Radio with Michael Wiiest calling the action from courtside. The women's game is scheduled to tipoff at 6:45 p.m. CST with the men to follow at 8:45 p.m.

The SPC basketball teams will return to the Texan Dome Monday, Jan. 13 when they play host to Clarendon College.