Undefeated Tarleton stifles Western Washington

Staff Report

TheFlashToday.com

(December 18, 2014) — Different venue, same result.

No. 5 Tarleton State proved it can win on the road, too, Thursday, following up eight consecutive home victories with a tough 72-65 neutral-site win over Western Washington (6-4) for its second straight 9-0 start.

Mo Lee poured in 19 points and grabbed nine rebounds while Davene Carter had 16 points, 10 boards and a career-best five blocked shots in the first of two games the Texans play in the South Point Holiday Hoops Classic at South Point Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

Tarleton concludes its stay Friday with a national rankings showdown against No. 12 Drury. Tipoff is at 7:45 p.m. CST.

Western Washington trimmed a 10 point deficit to two with a late 10-2 run, but the Texans answered with six straight points on two baskets in the paint by TaShawn Mabry and one by Carter to regain control with a 70-62 advantage and 45 seconds left.

The inside scoring was the biggest difference – Tarleton had 44 points in the paint to Western Washington’s 22. The Texans shot 50.9 percent from the floor while limiting always potent WWU to just 38.8 percent. It was the fewest points this season by the Vikings, who entered the game averaging 92.7 per game.

Mabry scored 11 points for Tarleton, Michael Hardge nine and true freshman Nosa Ebomwonyi eight. It was the third start for Ebomwonyi, the first Tarleton freshman to start multiple games since Dan Eichel in 2006-07.

Western Washington was led by Jaamon Echols with 21, Anye Turner with 14 and Joey Schreiber with 10.