Texans Claim National Championship

HUTCHINSON, Kan. – The South Plains College Texans won their first men's basketball National Championship with a 67-56 win over the Salt Lake CC Bruins Mar. 22 at the Hutchinson Sports Arena.

The Texans (30-5) won four games in four days at the NJCAA National Tournament to claim the title.

Salt Lake (32-4), who was ranked No. 4 in the nation in the final regulars season poll, jumped out to an 8-0 lead and was ahead 17-4 with 8:19 remaining in the first half. The Texans missed their first eight shots and 17 of their first 19. But SPC finally found their scoring touch and went on a 20-5 run that included 3-pointers by Nick Okorie, Landon Tatum and David Tairu. The final 3 by Tairu came with 9 seconds remaining in the half and gave the Texans a 24-22 lead at halftime.

South Plains never trailed after that. They were ahead 36-35 with 14:41 remaining when they went on an 11-0 run that gave them their first double-digit lead of the game. The Texans put the game away with 6:13 remaining when they scored 8 straight points to go up 56-40. Salt Lake never got closer than 9 after that.

Okorie led SPC with 29 points, while Tairu added 14, Jonathan Hall had 13, Tatum scored 5, Kendrick Johnson added 4 and Luciano de Souza had 2.

Hall was named the Tournament MVP, while Okorie was selected for the All-Tournament Team. Texan head coach Steve Green was named Coach of the Tournament.

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