Hopkins scores career-high 23 as Texans down Northeastern State

Advertisement

STEPHENVILLE – Javontae Hopkins scored a career high 23 points to help Tarleton men’s basketball bounce back with a 73-59 non-conference win over Northeastern State on Saturday in Wisdom Gym.

Hopkins was one of three Texans to score in double figures, as the freshman also added four assists and three steals. Josh Hawley recorded his fourth double-double of the season with 20 points, 10 rebounds while Devin Bethely poured in 13 points to go with a game-high five assists. The trio combined for 56 of the team’s 73 points.

The Texans (3-3) used a 10-0 run midway through the first half to grab a 22-10 advantage over the Riverhawks (5-1). The first half lead grew to 16 after a pair of free throws from Josh Williams for the largest lead of the half. The Texans led by 10 at the break, 34-24, where the defense held the Riverhawks to 35 percent shooting and forced 10 turnovers.

Hopkins and Hawley carried the Texans offensively in the second half as the freshman-senior duo combined for 24 of the 39 second-half points. The Texan lead grew back to 16 in the first five minutes of the second half as Hopkins and Hawley scored seven of the 10 points on a 10-2 Texan run to go up 49-33.

NSU was able to cut the deficit to three with 7:45 left but Randall Broddie answered with a layup and Clashon Gaffney threw down an alley-oop dunk from Bethely to keep the Riverhawks away.

The Texans would close the game on an 11-2 run over the final three minutes including back-to-back dunks from Hopkins and Hawley to put the exclamation point on the victory.

Tarleton will take on Northwestern Oklahoma State on Wednesday, Nov. 27 at 7:30 p.m. in Wisdom Gym.


Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.