STEPHENVILLE, Texas – Tarleton State Men’s Basketball battled in the second half to its fourth victory in Wisdom Gym with a 100-83 defeat of Howard Payne on Saturday afternoon in Wisdom Gym.
Texans (4-10) held off the Yellow Jackets (6-6) second half comeback. With the victory, Texan basketball swept the doubleheader with a pair of victories. Tarleton eclipsed the 100 point mark for the first time this season and the first time since Feb. 28, 2023 against Southwestern Assemblies.
A pair of Texans each notched their second double-doubles of the season. Bubu Benjamin posted a game-high 27 paired with 10 boards. Chris Mpaka posted 19 points and a team-best 12 rebounds.
Keitenn Bristow and Izzy Miles were the other of the four Texans to score in double figures. Bristow tied his career-best with 17 in back-to-back games and added four boards and three assists. Miles tallied three steals and added a season-best 12 points. Dantwan Grimes notched a game-best six assists.
The Texans started off the game with a bang. After winning the tip-off, Mpaka broke for the basket and Marty Silvera found him underneath for a loud alley-oop to start it off. Bristow sunk his first triple of the contest to give the Purple and White and 7-2 advantage to initiate a 12-0 run for the Texans. The burst put Tarleton in front, 16-2, five and a half minutes into the contest.
Grimes found his rhythm knocking down his first triple in Wisdom Gym to widen the Purple and White advantage to 19-5. Miles widened the Texan lead to 23-5 on a wide-open dunk. Jordan Mizell found Miles in the open court after a strip to give Miles the space for the slam.
The Yellow Jackets answered a few buckets to get up to 16 with seven minutes remaining, Back-to-back buckets by Mpaka and Silvera brought the Texan lead to 24, the highest of the first half, 36-12 with 7:45 remaining.
Mizell put the Texans back ahead by 20 with an and-one layup on the feed from Silvera. In the final 1:30, the Yellow Jackets closed with an 8-0 run by Eddy Carter. Carter drained a pair of Triples and sunk a pair of free throws to cut the HPU deficit to 15, 51-36.
Miles led the Texans in the first half with 11 points. Benjamin led the way on the glass with six boards and added four steals. Tarleton shot 48.6 percent from the floor (18-for-37) and 92.3 percent from the charity stripe (12-of-13).
The second half started out slow, with Howard Payne dropping its deficit to 11, after a 6-2 run in the first three and a half minutes. The Yellow Jackets showed they weren’t going away easy after the break. The Texans scoring stalled in the first ten minutes of the second half, but the Yellow Jackets responded on nearly each Texan make, to keep the Texan lead less than 15 during the span.
With 10:34 to go, HPU’s Ben Phillip nailed a triple to bring the Jackets within 11 for the third time in the half, 66-55. The Yellow Jackets narrowed their deficit to single digits with eight minutes to go after a pair of made free throws, 71-62. A second later, Texan head coach Billy Gillispie was assessed a technical foul. HPU made one of the two freebies, dropping their deficit to six for the first time in the second 20.
Trailing 77-67, the Yellow Jackets made a pair of buckets to close the deficit to just six, 77-71, with 5:33 to go. Benjamin made a triple followed by a fast break layup to bring the Texan lead back to double digits, 85-74.
On the next two ensuing possessions, the Yellow Jackets made a bucket and scored on a strip steal inbound to cut their deficit back to seven, 85-78 with 3:18 left.
Benjamin downed the Yellow Jackets chances with seven straight Texan points. Tarleton closed the final two minutes on a 9-0 run to expand its lead to 17, ultimately resulting in a 100-83 defeat of Howard Payne.
The Purple and White improve to 38-2 when shooting over 50 percent from the floor, shooting 50.7 percent. Tarleton tied their season-best with seven triples while shooting at a 31.8 percent clip. The Texans won the battle of the boards, 51-29 their most of the season.
Tarleton State will close out 2024 with its final non-conference tilt of the season, a Sunday matinee against Florida A&M. Tip is scheduled for 4 p.m. after the conclusion of the men’s game.
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