By BRAD KEITH
TheFlashToday.com
STEPHENVILLE (February 11, 2017) — Tarleton State has had to weather many storms to build a 2.5 game lead in the Lone Star Conference. On Saturday, the No. 11 Texans had to weather their own shooting woes to turn back Angelo State.
But the Texans pulled it off, winning their 14th straight at home against the Rams and pushing their own current win streak to six with a 76-67 victory after outscoring ASU 47-33 in the second half in front of 2,629, the largest crowd of the season at Wisdom Gym, and countless more on ESPN3.com and the WatchESPN App.
Tarleton improved to 14-0 when Romond Jenkins records a double-double as the senior center and reigning LSC Defensive player of the Week scored 20 points points and collected 15 boards. That and three other double-digit scoring performances were enough for the Texans to survive 24 points from Quay King and deny the Rams their first victory over Tarleton in Stephenville since February, 8, 2001.
It was nothing like the 92–60 beat down Tarleton put on ASU on January 5 in San Angelo. The Rams entered that game undefeated and ranked fifth in the country, but had lost Prince Foster just before Christmas to a broken wrist. ASU has Foster running the point now and had won two of three before Saturday since his return, including a 14-point road victory over tough Texas A&M-Commerce.
Jenkins scored 16 in the second half, when senior guard Chantz Chambers had 10 of his 15. Ridell Camidge added 13 points and Anthony Davis 12. Deshawn Riddick and Nosa Ebomwonyi each scored six, and Camidge, Davis and Ebomwonyi each collected six boards.
Tarleton won despite shooting a season-low 12 percent from the 3-point arc, where they were just 3-25. King made five himself for ASU, which was 10-33 from the arc.
Even when Tarleton took its largest lead of 57-46, it wasn’t over. ASU scored five quick points to cut it to 57-51 with 5:14 still to go.
Tarleton pushed the margin right back to 10 before back-to-back turnovers and a missed free throw enabled ASU to score to get a Pratt bucket and a King 3, both in transition, trimming it to 63-58 with 2:05 remaining.
Chambers missed two free throws, but Davis rebounded and tipped in the second miss for a seven-point lead before a blocked shot by Jenkins fluttered into the corner where Devonte Pratt grabbed the ball and fired in a 3 to make it 65-61 with 1:43 left.
But that was as close as the Rams would get with Nosa Ebomwonyi hitting two Tarleton free throws and Jenkins, who has struggled all season from the line and even missed two following a first-half flagrant foul Saturday, made six of his final seven at the stripe.
Free throws from Ebomwonyi and Camidge made it 74-64, putting the win on ice with 35 seconds on the clock. Shaquan Rhoades did bring the Rams within seven on the last 3-pointer of the evening, but Chambers buried two foul shots with 19 seconds left to finish the scoring.
Tarleton seemed in control after a 21-6 run over the first 10 minutes of the second half, which began with an alley-oop dunk by Jenkins on a lob from Camidge. TArleton led for good after a step back jumper by Riddick made it 40-38 with 14:07 to go, and Jenkins scored the next four, giving him eight points during the decisive run.
“It was a tough first half, but we put that behind and us and we penetrated, moved the ball well and executed overall much better I thought in the second half,” said Tarleton head coach Lonn Reisman. “And our crowd played a huge role in the comeback. This place was full, it was loud, and that definitely played a major role in us coming back in the second half.
Talreton couldn’t buy a bucket in a first half that ended with the Texans trailing 34-29. They shot just 26.9 percent in the first half, highlighted – or low-lighted – by missing 13 of 14 3-point tries. They missed their first 13 attempts from deep before Camidge finally buried a left-wing triple late in the half.
ASU, on the other hand, made six first half triples, outscoring Tarleton 18-3 from the arc to grab its lead. King made three of them and led all scorers with 12 at intermission.
Tarleton led 20-13 after seven straight points by Jenkins, Camidge and Nosa Ebomwonyi, but the Texans scored just nine points over the final 10 minutes of the half, and ASU poured in 21. King began the Rams’ surge with a pair of 3-pointers. A later 3 by Foster gave ASU a 25-24 lead and they were ahead the rest of the half.
“The first half, we weren’t moving the ball like we usually do, but in the second half we started making the defense move side to side and that gave us lanes to pass the ball inside or to drive to the basket,” said Jenkins, who like his coach noted the importance of the crowd. “That second half, that was for this crowd. They were great today and they came out wanting to see a show, and we fed off them the whole second half.”
Jenkins leads the LSC in rebounding and double-doubles.
“He’s a great rebounder, that’s the biggest compliment I can give him because it shows how hard he works out there,” said Reisman. “And there were some boards tonight that were heavily contested and Romond won a lot of those battles, and it helped us to take control of the game.”
And control of the LSC, even with three games on the road to close out the season, beginning with a trip to A&M-Commerce next Thursday.
“Nothing changes for us,” said Reisman of the 2.5-game lead after his team’s win and UT-Permian Basin’s 90-87 home loss to Cameron. “We want to host a regional and the only way to do that is to focus and take care of business every day in practice and in every game we play. We’ll think about an LSC title after we win it, right now, it’s all about getting ready for Texas A&M-Commerce.”
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