SPC Men Outlast Howard in 5 Overtimes

It took five extra periods, but the No. 5 ranked South Plains College Texans moved into a tie for first place in the Western Junior College Athletic Conference with a 108-106 win over the Howard College Hawks Thursday at the Texan Dome.

The five-overtime game is the longest in South Plains College history. The game lasted almost three-and-a-half hours.

Howard's DeMarcus Richard made a free throw with 5 seconds remaining in regulation to tie things up at 60-60 and force the first overtime. SPC's David Tairu hit a shot with 3 seconds remaining in the first overtime to tie the score at 66-66 and force the second OT. It was 79-79 after the second overtime, 88-88 after the third overtime and 95-95 after the fourth overtime. The Texans never trailed in the fifth extra period. They led by as many as 5 before a Howard 3-pointer at the buzzer provided the final score.

Howard (17-5 overall, 6-2 conference) jumped out to a quick 18-7 lead and led by as many as 13 in the first half. But South Plains (18-1, 6-1) outscored the Hawks 39-28 in the second half.

Nick Okorie led SPC with 31 points, while Jonathan Hall added 30, David Tairu scored 17, Hugh Mingo had 12, Carlos Dos Santos, Lu Griffin, Luciano de Souza and Landon Tatum all scored 4, and Kendrick Johnson added 2.

For Howard, Corey Allmond and Sean Watson each scored 27.

BOX SCORE