(January 24, 2017) — We’re halfway through the men’s basketball race in the rough and rugged Lone Star Conference.
Eight of the 10 teams have played nine conference games, and the remaining two, Angelo State and Texas A&M-Kingsville, meet in each team’s ninth league game tonight in Kingsville.
Tarleton State has reached the midway point in first place in the league, but veteran head coach Lonn Reisman knows better than to start making room on the mantle for another LSC championship trophy.
Reisman, the winningest college coach in all of Texas, saw his team come up short in a bid for a two-game lead at the midway point of the conference race, which would have been especially nice considering the Texans visit each of the four teams tied for second in the LSC as well as arch-rival Midwestern State over the last half of the LSC season.
“Our second-half schedule is without a doubt much tougher than the first half, and that’s what made the game on Saturday so disappointing,” Reisman said. “We had a rare opportunity to take a two-game lead in one of the toughest conferences in the nation, and instead we gave probably our worst performance of the year.”
Tarleton was out-rebounded 44-24 and fell behind 25 points Saturday, and despite cutting the deficit to four with more than seven minutes to play, could never get over the hump against a surging UT-Permian Basin team that held on, 76-64, to join a four-team tie for second place just one game behind the Texans.
Remaining LSC games for current top five teams:
Tarleton – @CU, @MSU, ENMU, WNMU, TAMUK, ASU, @TAMUC, @UTPB, @WT
West Tx A&M – @ENMU, @WNMU, @UTPB, CU, MSU, @TAMUK, @ASU, TAMUC, TSU
A&M-Commerce – @MSU, @CU, WNMU, ENMU, ASU, TAMUK, TSU, @WT, @UTPB
UT-Permian Basin – @WNMU, @ENMU, WT, MSU, CU, @ASU, @TAMUK, TSU, TAMUC
Cameron – TSU, TAMUC, @ASU, @TAMUK, @WT, @UTPB, WNMU, ENMU, MSU
“A two-game lead would have been nice, but I’m from the Bill Parcels era of coaching so I’m not a dreamer, I’m a realist,” Reisman said. “I believe you are what you are. We’re 16-3 because that’s what kind of ball club we have right now. If we end up 16-12 then that’s who we are, and if we are 25-3, well then, I hope that’s really who we are.”
The truth, as most always, will lie in the middle. This talented bunch of Texans won’t go 0-9 for a 16-12 finish, but the likelihood of running through the gauntlet of road games ahead without a loss seems slim, as well.
While Reisman was disappointed in his team’s performance on Saturday, that doesn’t mean he wasn’t impressed with UTPB. He also acknowledged UTPB and West Texas A&M have the most favorable schedules moving forward.
“They (UTPB) have a very good chance, and even though they are coming off a couple losses, West Texas A&M has a very good team and they are in good position, too,” Reisman said. “We’re in a position where we are going to have to mature and figure out a way to avoid a dip in the second games each week and how to string good performances together.”
Tarleton won 92-60 on the road against talented (and then No. 5-ranked) Angelo State, only to suffer its first – and most unlikely – conference loss two days later at A&M-Kingsville. Similarly, the Texans were dominant in building a 26-point lead en rout to a 91-73 win over WTAMU last Thursday, but less than 48 hours later were leaving the court frustrated as UT-Permian Basin celebrated the biggest two-game road trip of its first season in the LSC (the Falcons had already ripped A&M-Commerce, 84-61, in Commerce last Thursday).
While Tarleton, A&M-Commerce and WTAMU are not surprises at the top half of the LSC, Cameron is a bit of a head-turner, and of course, nobody outside Odessa foresaw the success of UTPB in its first season since leaving the Heartland Conference (side note – The Falcons would likely dominated the Heartland this season).
What everyone seems to be looking for is consistency. It’s certainly one of the intangibles Reisman is hoping to see from his team.
“We have to be mature enough to consistently put our best product on the floor, and we have not shown the ability to do that,” Reisman said. “But these are things that are correctible. We have very good players and we have shown the ability to execute at a high level in some very tough conditions. We have a great road win over a talented Angelo team, a neutral-court win against Western Washington that has a great team and great tradition and even some of our home wins have been against some very good teams.”
Several talented teams are lurking close in an LSC race seemingly destined to come down to the wire on the final Saturday in February.
The Texans have a one-game lead entering the last half of the conference season. It could have been two, but as Reisman says, it is what it is.
And the road to winning a conference title is never easy, especially when on the road is where the Texans will be for their toughest games down the stretch.
Several random thoughts on the LSC race at its midway point:
*Biggest surprise team over the first half of the season? – I saw UT-Permian Basin in the Tarleton Tipoff Classic, so I was already warning folks they would turn some heads this year. The team I’m most impressed to see near the top of the standings is Cameron, which hosts Tarleton this Thursday in Lawton, Okla. I thought with the departure of coach Nate Gamut the Aggies may take a dip, but here they are, in prime position among the cluster of teams tied for second entering the last half of league play.
*Biggest disappointment over the first half of the season? – It’s tough to say if this Angelo State or Midwestern State, though I still believe both have very talented teams with good coaches and are dangerous in any one-game scenario. I guess I’ll go with MSU since the Mustangs were the preseason favorite to win the league and lost at home to ASU. Disclaimer – the Mustangs are still No. 1 on Tarleton’s list of rivals and will present a tough task for the Texans to tackle this Saturday at D.L. Ligon Coliseum in Whichita Falls.
*Most complete player I’ve seen so far? – Daeshon Francis of UT-Permian Basin I believe gets the nod. He reminds me a lot of Chantz Chambers at Tarleton – great defender both on the ball and off, a good shooter, an athletic finisher at the rim and I loved the way he was grabbing teammates and encouraging them even when the Texans were rapidly shaving down the big Falcon lead in the second half Saturday.
*Shooter I don’t want with the ball in his hands at the end of a two-point game against Tarleton? – Quay King of Angelo State, though All-American David Chavlovich is still scary and James McPherson hit back-to-back 3-pointers for UTPB that ended Tarleton’s hopes of a comeback last Saturday. There are lots of great shooters in this league, including two each at A&M-Commerce (both sick but played in their loss to UTPB last Thursday) and UTPB. I consulted Wichita Falls Times Record News sports editor Andy Newberry on this one. The point man for the paper’s coverage of Midwestern State men’s basketball, Andy agrees, King at ASU can flat-out stroke it.
*Biggest sign of parity in the LSC? – Tarleton’s losses. If I would have told you Tarleton would be 7-2 at this point of the season, nobody would respond – with losses to A&M-Kingsville and UT-Permian Basin, right? It’s just a sign of how deep this league is, and proof Reisman is correct that the Texans must find a way to consistently put their best product on the floor. Any less in this conference, and you’re doomed.
*How many LSC teams will make regional? – Typically it’s been three. This is the year I will say four. I’ve talked to some familiar with the formula and process who believe the Lone Star could even send five to the regional, but I’m not so sure. I’m going to stick with four until we see the first set of regional rankings. I have to think Fort Lewis and Colorado Mines will get in out of the RMAC, which has a couple others with impressive records. The Heartland gets an automatic bid for its conference tournament champion, and that may be the only spot it will claim in the eight-team regional tournament.
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