STEPHENVILLE – Tarleton men’s basketball picked up its second win of the season with an 84-43 rout over Arlington Baptist in Wisdom Gym.
The Texans shot a season-high 52 percent while holding Arlington Baptist to a season-low 24 percent with 22 turnovers.
Tahj Small posted the first double-double for the Texans in the Division I era with a game-high 19 points, all of which came in the first half, to go with 11 rebounds in just 25 minutes. Shakue Daniel played all 40 minutes and posted a career-high 14 points, seven rebounds, six assists and five steals. Heri Ngalamulume also tallied a career-high 14 points with six rebounds, three blocks and four steals.
The win was coach Billy Gillispie’s 150th win as a Division I head coach, with a record of 150-110 in 10 seasons.
“Our whole deal is to play hard, play smart, and play together,” said Gillispie. “If you do those things, we’re going to do really well and max out on our abilities. You can only win one game; it doesn’t matter how pretty or ugly it is. We have so much learn and it’s all about playing hard, playing smart and together.”
Tarleton got off to a hot start behind a 14-0 run and never let up. The Texans attacked the paint early and often, as all 14 points during the stretch were down low which led to 50 points in the paint on the night. Small’s layup with 6:08 left in the first half pushed the lead to 20 at 29-9. It was in the midst of another huge Texan run, this time a 24-5 push that extended the advantage to 47-14 in the closing seconds of the half.
Tarleton led 48-16 at the break, with the starting five of Small, Daniel, Ngalamulume, Shamir Bogues and Konstantin Dotsenko playing all 20 minutes. Bogues grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds along with six points while Dotsenko had four points and five rebounds. The Texans held the Patriots to just 16 percent shooting (5-31) in the first half.
The Texans got off to a slow start offensively in the second half, but picked the pace up late with a 12-0 run in the final minutes to extend the lead to a game-high 41 over the Patriots, 82-41.
Tarleton grabbed a season-high 50 rebounds in the win with six players collecting at least five boards. They also dished out a season-high 22 assists with six Texans recording at least three assists.
Jonathan Jackson Jr. led the Texans off the bench with nine points in 16 minutes, while Sam Sparks scored a career-high eight points. Feddy Hicks tallied six points and six boards, while Joey Madimba and Cadarius Baggett each had two points to round out the scoring efforts.
Tarleton will now travel to Lawrence, Kansas to take on the No. 5-ranked Kansas Jayhawks on Sunday, Dec. 13 at 1 p.m. at Allen Fieldhouse.
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