The 11th ranked South Plains College Texans basketball team hosted three teams for the Texan Classic this past week, going 2-1 in play to improve to 7-2 on the season.
The Texans kicked off their play on Thursday with an overtime thriller against second-ranked Snow College, losing 88-83. SPC trailed Snow by 15 at a point in the game before mounting a comeback to take the lead with minutes remaining, which Snow would respond to by taking a two-point lead with only seconds left.
Then as time was expiring in regulation, sophomore center Alexandre K’Medehouto would make a dunk to tie the game for the Texans and send it to overtime.
SPC would fall short in overtime, but it was still a highly competitive game against arguably the best team in the country.
The Texans shot 44% from the field and 50% from beyond the arc, compared to Snow, who shot 45% from the field and 35% from be yond the arc.
SPC’s leading scorers included sophomore point guard Zion Pipkin with 22 points on 7/16 shooting, going 5/7 from three-point range and 3/3 from the free throw line, adding five as sists, two rebounds and a steal.
Sophomore forward Antallah Sandlin’el had 16 points on 4/6 shooting, going 3/3 from three-point range and 5/9 from the free throw line, adding three rebounds and a steal.
The next day, the Texans would take down Hill College 76-64 in gritty fashion after trailing in the first half.
SPC shot 41% from the field and 19% from three- point range as opposed to Hill, who shot 41% from the field and 50% from three- point range.
The difference in the game would be the free throw discrepancy, rebounds and bench points. The Texans had 18 more made free throws, 16 more rebounds and 20 more bench points than Hill.
SPC’s leading scorers in the matchup included freshman guard Deion Ware with 20 points on 7/12 shooting, going 1/3 from three and 5/5 from the free throw line, adding eight rebounds, three assists and a block.
Sophomore guard Yohandry Ortiz had 15 points on 5/13 shooting, going 2/5 from three and 3/3 from the free throw line, adding three rebounds, and sophomore guard Keith Richard had 12 points on 1/3 shooting, going 10/11 from the free throw line, adding three assists, a rebound and a block.
And then in their final game of the Texan Classic on Saturday, the Texans took down Lamar Community College, 98-96, in overtime.
SPC shot 59% from the field and 50% from three- point range compared to Lamar's 44% from the field and 37% from three-point range.
Lamar was able to stay in the game by winning the turnover margin by 12 and scoring 21 more second chance points, but the Texans would respond by making 18 more free throws.
SPC’s leading scorers included Deion Ware with 27 points on 6/13 shooting, going 3/6 from three and 12/13 from the free throw line, adding seven rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block.
Zion Pipkin scored 19 points on 5/8 shooting, going 2/3 from three and 7/7 from the free throw line, adding eight assists and three rebounds, and Yohandry Ortiz scored 15 points on 6/11 shooting, going 3/7 from three-point range, adding two rebounds and a block.
That wrapped up SPC’s play in the Texan Classic, which their Head Coach Patrick “Cinco” Boone gave his overall thoughts on.
“We wanted to simulate a tournament style setting with the Texan Classic to play three games in three days. We had three quality opponents in Snow, Hill and Lamar, and we played stretches of really good basketball,” Coach Boone said. “We are still learning our team and looking for a defensive identity, a regular rotation and still tweaking our offensive chemistry. To be able to win two of three games and come a possession short of defeating #2, we are pleased with our growth and what we are learning. We want to thank those who came out to support us, especially our student body. We look forward to returning to the dome in front of our fans in January.”
The Texans return to play Friday against Western Oklahoma State College at Clarendon College and Saturday at Weatherford College, both starting at 4 p.m. The next SPC men’s home game will be Jan. 12 vs. Frank Phillips College at 7:30 p.m.