South Plains Sinks Seward 77-65

HUTCHINSON, Kan. - Jonathan Hall scored 24 points and Luciano de Souza added 21 as the South Plains College Texans moved one win away from a National Championship with a 77-65 victory over Seward County (Kan.) Friday night in the semifinals of the NJCAA National Tournament in Hutchinson, Kan.

The Texans (29-5) will face Salt Lake (Utah) CC in the title game Saturday at 8 p.m. Salt Lake defeated Three Rivers (Mo.) in the other semifinal.

As has been the case in every game of the tournament, the Texans jumped out to a big first half lead, only to see it fizzle away in the second half. SPC was up 9-0 and held Seward scoreless for more than five minutes. The Texans hit six 3-pointers in the first half as the opened up a 32-16 lead. An 8-0 run by Seward helped them get back within 8 just before halftime.

In the second half, the Saints would eventually get within 1 (45-44) with 13:11 remaining, but a 15-1 run by SPC pushed the Texan lead back to 60-45. From there, the closest Seward could get was 62-55.

Also scoring for SPC were David Tairu with 16, Nick Okorie with 8, Kendrick Johnson with 4, and Landon Tatum and Hugh Mingo with 2 each.

For Seward, Texas Tech commit Darko Cohadarevic led the way with 21 points.

BOX SCORE