Tarleton visits UTPB in biggest game of LSC season

Chantz Chambers top 10 feature — Tarleton State and guard Chantz Chambers try to lock up sole possession of the Lone Star Conference championship when they visit UT-Permian Basin Thursday. || Courtesy NATE BURAL/Tarleton Athletics

By BRAD KEITH
TheFlashToday.com

STEPHENVILLE (February 22, 2017) — Everything that was done, was with the purpose of being in this position.

Even coming off a loss, Tarleton State is still alone in first place in the Lone Star Conference.

And, yes, even coming off a loss, Tarleton remains No. 1 in the South Central Region.

The No. 15 Texans (22-4, 13-3) visit UT-Permian Basin (21-5, 12-4) in Odessa at 7:30 p.m. Thursday – following a 5:30 women’s contest – with the Texans in sole possession of fist place in the LSC but UTPB just a game back in second and currently owning the head-to-head advantage after topping Tarleton, 76-64, in Stephenville on January 21.

That was part of a nine-game win streak that has expanded to 11 wins in 12 outings for UTPB, putting the Falcons in control of their own destiny for a share of the LSC title and the top seed in the upcoming LSC Championship.

Tarleton can clinch outright possession of its fifth LSC championship with a win, while UTPB has the opportunity to sweep the Texans and cause a tie at the top of the conference standings entering each team’s final game of the regular season.

In short – it’s the biggest game of the year for both clubs.

Tarleton was comfortably atop the first South Central Region rankings while holding a 2.5-game lead in the LSC following home wins over Texas A&M-Kingsville and Angelo State, but that was before dropping an 83-82 battle at Texas A&M-Commerce last Thursday.

UTPB, meanwhile, bounced back after having its nine-game win streak stopped, 90-87 by Cameron on February 11, with a pair of hard-earned road wins last week. The Falcons won at Angelo State, 93-90, and in triple overtime at A&M-Kingsville, 87-81. The Falcons climbed to No. 3 in this week’s regional rankings.

Tarleton itself has billed this matchup as the Lone Star Conference title game in promotions for a sold-out fan bus that will make the trip to Odessa and back. UTPB, in a tweet that was later taken down, billed it as the biggest game this season involving a school in the Univeristy of Texas system.

The numbers certainly back the hype, even if there is a clash in styles.

UTPB leads the LSC in scoring at 89.7 points per game, while Tarleton is tops in the league in scoring defense at just 64.8. Both formulas have been successful, as the they are first and second in the league in the league in score margin, Tarleton at 16.3 and UTPB at 11.7.

The comparisons don’t stop at victory margin. Both teams shoot 47.3 percent for the season, tying them for first in the LSC, and they are first and fourth in the league in field goal percentage defense, Tarleton at 38.6 and UTPB at 40.1.

The Falcons are second in the league in 3-point percentage at 36.2 percent, but Tarleton is less than one percentage point back in fourth at 35.4. The Texans (30.0) are third and UTPB (32.5) fifth in 3-point field goal percentage defense.

They are also first and second in rebounding, led by UTPB at 44.3 boards per game with Tarleton at 40.5. Tarleton is first in rebound margin at 13.9, but UTPB is less than one board behind, out-rebounding its opponents by 13.3 per outing.

The Falcons are led by LSC Offensive Player of the Week Daeshon Francis, a Wisconsin-Green Bay transfer averaging 18.5 points per game.That’s third in the conference, while teammates Johnnie Lacey (fifth at 15.6) and James McPherson (seventh at 14.7) give UTPB three of the league’s top seven scorers. Francis scored 19, McPherson 17 and Lacey 14 in the prior win over Tarleton.

Tarleton’s Ridell Camidge is sixth in the league at 15.2 points, while Chantz Chambers scores 14.1 and is coming off a career-best 33 points at A&M-Commerce a week ago. Romond Jenkins averages 12.7 points and 11.2 boards and has 15 double-doubles on the season, with Tarleton winning 14 of those games. Jenkins and UTPB’s Sammy Allen are each averaging 11.2 rebounds per game, tops in the LSC.

Chambers scored 15 and Josh Hawley, who has since been lost to a broken foot, also had 15 for Tarleton in its first meeting with the Falcons. Brandon Willis, a freshman guard, scored 11 off the bench. Jenkins dealt with foul trouble and had just seven points and two boards. Camidge, a UNC-Charlotte transfer, was 0-8 from the floor and scoreless for the only time this season.

All those troubles led to Tarleton finding itself behind 51-26 early in the second half of that game, before closing the gap to 57-53 with more than seven minutes still to play. But McPherson answered with back-to-back triples for UTPB, and the Falcons held the Texans at arm’s length in the closing moments.

The Falcons follow Thursday’s duel with another tough home test against dangerous A&M-Commerce, which is fresh off its win over Tarleton and is ranked fifth in the region. Tarleton concludes its regular season at West Texas A&M on Saturday. WTAMU is No. 4 in the region.

The LSC has come down to the final week. That is no surprise. Neither is Tarleton’s familiar spot at the top of the league standings.

But new kid on the block UTPB, picked eighth in the conference preseason poll, has another chance to shake things up, something the Falcons have done all season.

Big games are a dime-a-dozen in the parity-filled LSC.

The biggest of them all is Thursday in Odessa.