By BRAD KEITH
TheFlashtoday.com
WICHITA FALLS (January 13, 2016) — It was Tarleton State and Midwestern State. And as it always seems to do in this intense Lone Star Conference rivalry, it lived up to every bit of hype.
No. 4 Midwestern (14-1, 3-0) scored 11 straight points after falling behind 46-36 in the opening minutes of the second half, and ultimately turned it into a 21-5 run on its way to a 66-63 win over Tarleton (13-2, 3-1) at D.L. Ligon Coliseum Wednesday night.
It was the eighth straight meeting in which the rivals have been separated by six points or less each team has won four times in that stretch. Midwestern won its 11th straight since its only loss, while Tarleton had a three-game win streak snapped. Tarleton also had a streak of four straight wins over top 10 opponents broken.
Charles Hill led all scorers with 25 points for Tarleton, while EJ Reed doubled up for the ninth time with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Midwestern had three double digit scorers, led by Bretson McNeal with 15. Jordan Stevens added 11, and so did Pat Smith off the bench, leading the way to 25 points from the MSU reserves.
Tarleton scored 13 points in less than four minutes to begin the second half, turning a one-point deficit at intermission into a 42-34 lead. It grew to 46-36 before the half was four minutes old, but Midwestern called timeout, tightened its defense and limited Tarleton to just one field goal and one free throw – a whole three points – over the next 11 minutes.
Tarleton rallied to give itself a chance in the end, with Michael Hardge throwing a long inbound pass into the front court to Reed, who bounced it to Riddick for a straightaway 3-point attempt that rimmed out at the buzzer.
Midwestern actually stretched its lead to 63-56 with 49 seconds left, but Tarleton wouldn’t quit. Hill converted a 3-point play to pull Tarleton within four with 35 seconds remaining, and after MSU head coach Nelson Haggerty was whistled for a technical, Hill hit another charity shot to make it 63-60.
The Texans also got the ball out of the tech, but turned it over to give MSU an easy transition layup by Hershell Grant.
That proved to be the ultimate difference maker with Hill burying his third and final 3-pointer to cut it to 65-63 before McNeal hit just 1-2 from the stripe to leave the Texans behind three leading to Riddick’s miss at the end.
Midwetern ended the first half on a 12-4 run to lead 34-33 at the break. Tarleton had its largest lead of the half, 29-22, just before the Mustang rally began the finishing rally.
Reed and Hill each had 10 in the first half, with Reed hitting two 3-pointers and Hill going 8-8 at the foul line. Tarleton was 15-19 at free throw line in the first half, but Midwestern outscored the Texans 15-6 from the arc.
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