Benjamin scores 18 as Texans down Thunderbirds for fourth straight WAC win at Wisdom

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STEPHENVILLE – Tarleton State Men’s Basketball controlled the game for its entirety boasting a 75-58 victory over Southern Utah to win in its seventh-straight game in Wisdom this season on Saturday night.

Tarleton State (10-13 overall, 5-3 WAC) is undefeated in the ‘Ville in conference play this season. Southern Utah (9-13, 1-7) ends their Texas trip with a pair of losses.

Bubu Benjamin led the Texans scoring 18 points, with 12 coming in the second half. The Canada native also led the team with six boards and added a pair of steals in a team-high 37 minutes.

Izzy Miles tallied a career-high 15 points while shooting six-for-eight from the floor. The sophomore tied for the team-lead with three steals. Keitenn Bristow notched 14 points while shooting six-for-seven time. Jordan Mizell was the fourth Texan to score in double digits, adding 11. Mizell became the fourth Texan this season to notch six assists in a single game.

The first half started as a back-and-forth affair. Bristow made the first bucket of the game to put the Texans on top, but Southern Utah tied it on the next possession. The two squads traded buckets, until SUU led 6-5 three minutes into the game. Tarleton made back-to-back buckets by Mpaka and Mizell to take the lead for the final time in the game, 9-6.

Six minutes into the contest, Dantwan Grimes found Bubu Benjamin for the first alley-oop of the night, to give the Texans a five-point advantage. The Purple and White’s lead stayed around six for the next several minutes past the midpoint of the half. Leading 18-14, Tarleton took their first double-digit lead on an 8-2 run. Izzy Miles, Nick Krass, Mizell and Bristow all contributed to the rally.

Tarleton State bursted out on a 9-0 run to take a 16-pont lead, its largest of the half. Benjamin started the scoring intercepting a Thunderbird pass and cruising in the open court for a dunk that erupted Wisdom Gym. He contributed four of the nine, ending with the Purple and White leading 37-21 with 1:18 left in the half.

Ultimately, the Texans held a 37-23 lead at the break. The Purple and White shot an impeccable 57.7 percent from the floor in the first half making 15 of their 26 attempts. Tarleton forced 13 Thunderbird turnovers. SUU shot a perfect 8-for-8 in the 20 minutes.

Tarleton made sure not to squander its lead in the second half. The Texans ballooned their lead to 19 with a 5-0 run to start the second 20 minutes. Bristow scored the first bucket of the half, followed by a classic three-point play by Miles.

The Texans took an 18-point lead, 48-30, thanks to six consecutive Texan points by Bristow. Bristow scored on three consecutive Tarleton State possessions. The Thunderbirds executed an 8-0 run of their own after Bristow’s buckets to cut the deficit to 10.

Then, it became Benjamin’s turn to score. Over the next eight minutes, Benjamin scored 12 points without a miss. He gave the Texans a 13-point lead with a powerful and-one layup to start his burst. He made three buckets in the paint and knocked down the Texans first triple of the night with 6:23 remaining in the contest.

Tarleton State led by as many as 20 in the final minutes. The Texans used an 8-0 with four points from Mizell and four made free throws by Grimes. Grimes sunk a pair to put the Texans up, 73-53 with 1:48 to go. In the end, the Texans closed out the Thunderbirds, 75-58 to end a perfect 2-0 week for the Purple and White.

The Texans improved to 39-2 when shooting over 50 percent from the floor shooting at a 56.9 percent rate, their best percentage in a WAC game as a team this season. Tarleton State won the turnover battle, 19-17 and the battle of the boards, 28-24. The Purple and White scored an astounding 50 points in the paint, two-thirds of their total points.

The Purple and White will head out west for its final two-game road trip of the season. The Texans will take on Seattle U on Thursday night at the Redhawk Center. Tip is slated for 9 pm CT. Tarleton State will close the weekend in Orem, Utah at Utah Valley with tip slated for 3 p.m. CT at UCCU Center.

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