Texans Return to Win Column

The No. 4 ranked South Plains College Texans got back on the winning track Thursday by defeating the New Mexico Military Institute Broncos 88-64 at the Texan Dome in Levelland.

South Plains (17-1 overall, 5-1 conference) suffered their first loss of the season on Monday at Odessa and looked sluggish early on against NMMI. The Texans trailed 18-16 with 11:34 left in the first half before going on a 15-3 run that was started by a 3-pointer by sophomore guard Nick Okorie. The Broncos cut the SPC lead down to 5 with five minutes remaining in the half, but the Texans closed out the half strong and took a 44-32 lead into halftime.

NMMI closed the deficit to single digits early in the second half, but a 3-pointer by Luciano DeSouza and a dunk by David Tairu quickly pushed SPC's lead to 51-38. The Broncos never got closer than 11 the rest of the way as they managed just two field goals in the final 8:50.

Okorie hit five 3-pointers and finished with 27 points to lead the Texans. Freshman David Tairu got his second start of the season and responded with 21 points. Also for SPC, Carlos Dos Santos scored 10, Landon Tatum had 7, DeSouza had 6, Jonathan Hall and Hugh Mingo each scored 5, Kendrick Johnson added 4 and Ladarius Hall had 3.

For the Broncos, Byron Byrd led the way with 22 points.

South Plains will be back at home next Thursday when they host Howard College in a battle for first place in the WJCAC.

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