STEPHENVILLE – Chris Mpaka posted the best game of his Texan career to lift Tarleton State to a 67-64 victory over Seattle U on Saturday night in Wisdom Gym to avenge a road loss from earlier in the season.
The Texans (11-16 overall, 6-6 WAC) inch ahead of the Redhawks (10-15, 5-6) in the conference standing by half of a game. After Saturday night’s contests, the Purple and White in fourth are a half of a game behind California Baptist and ahead of Seattle U.
“What a great crowd we had tonight,” said head coach Billy Gillispie post game. “We give them a bunch of credit. We certainly appreciate everything they do and they make a big difference. They were able to see a fun, competitive ballgame and we really appreciate them coming out.”
Mpaka stood out throughout the entire game, scoring a career-high 20 points. For the fourth time this season, Mpaka notched five blocked shots his second in two of the last three games. All five of his blocks came in the second half. The junior stayed out of foul trouble and was able to play nearly 30 minutes. He missed out on his fourth double-double of the season by one rebound, notching just nine. The Kinshasa, Congo, native, shot six of 12 from the floor, including sinking his first three-pointer as a Texan moving his career mark to one-for-two from deep.
Dantwan Grimes scored in double digits for the second-consecutive game, posting 16. The junior transfer made two shots from the floor and converted 11 of his 13 free throws. He also added three rebounds and a team-best three assists.
Bubu Benjamin scored 11 points, his seventh time in the last eight to score in double figures. Benjamin also recorded three steals and three boards. He played 40 minutes for the eighth time this season. Freshman Jordan Mizell was a monster on the defensive glass grabbing seven defensive rebounds and eight total boards. He also tallied seven points, two assists and two steals.
Mpaka started off the Texan scoring attack off an alley-oop from Mizell for the points of the game. The Redhawks then took control and the game seemed early on doomed to be a re-run of the last meeting in Seattle. SU’s big man, Kobe Williamson scored the first eight Redhawk points to put Seattle U on an 8-0 run to take an 8-2 lead just five minutes into the contest.
But then, the Texans recovered and showed they were aiming to avenge last week’s loss. Bristow drove to the basket for the bucket and added the and-one free throw to cut the deficit in half. Mpaka followed up with a basket in the paint after Seattle U turned the ball over on a five second call. Benjamin gave the Texans the lead draining his first triple attempt of the night. He capped the Texans 8-0 run response to put the Purple and White ahead, 13-10 with 13 minutes to play.
The Redhawks tied the game at 10, but the Texans took the lead back on back-to-back three-pointers. First Grimes sunk his first triple of the night and then the unthinkable happened. Mpaka, who has only taken one three-pointer prior to tonight, took a wide-open look from deep and knocked it down for his first career D1 make. The junior celebrated for a few seconds heading back down the floor to get back on defense with the Purple and White ahead, 16-10.
Seattle U tied the game at 18 over the next two minutes using an 8-2 run. Five of the eight SU points came via the free throw and the final three coming from a Maldonado triple. Tarleton retook the lead bursting on a 7-0 run to take a 25-18 advantage in about two and a half minutes. After Grimes drained a pair of freebies, Bristow knocked down the fourth-straight Texan triple to start the game. The Purple and White made each of their first four triples, then failed to make another for the remainder of the contest, missing their final six attempts.
Over the next four minutes, the Redhawks clawed back to tie the game at 28 with the Texans’ lone two points coming via the free throw line. Grimes sunk a pair of freebies followed by the Redhawks going two-for-two at the line to tie the game at 30 with a minute to play. In the final minute, Izzy Miles sunk a mid-range jumper followed by a Redhawk pullup with six seconds left to send the game into halftime tied at 32.
The Texans started off the second half extremely hot using an 18-0 run to take their largest lead of the night, 50-32. Last time when the two teams met in the Redhawk Center, SU started the second half on a 12-0 run and a 26-2 run over the first nine minutes. During the Texan run the Redhawks missed all eight of their shots from the floor and turned the ball over eight times. The Texans made six of their seven free throws during the spurt. After Mpaka started the half with a layup, Mizell scored the next seven points with three coming from the charity stripe. Benjamin picked the pocket of a Redhawk and took off for a wide open fast break dunk, to give the Texans’ their first double-digit lead of the night, 43-32. Grimes drove the lane, drew the foul, and converted on the classic three-point play. Mpaka and Benjamin were responsible for the final points of the run.
Tarleton quickly pushed the lead back to six with a classic three-point play by Mpaka. In a game that saw 51 fouls, the Redhawks leading scorer heading into the game, Matthew Alexander-Moncrieffe claimed his fifth foul with 4:51 to go. Miles, Mizell and Bristow also fouled out for the Texans earlier in the game. The Purple and White went up nine with 2:32 to go after a Benjamin bucket and a pair of made Mpaka free throws. But the game wasn’t over yet. Before the Redhawks went on a 5-0 run, Williamson had his shot blocked emphatically of the glass by Mpaka, his first of two blocks in the final minutes of the contest. The Redhawks then closed their deficit to four, 63-59, thanks to five-straight points in 10 seconds by Maleek Arrington.
Grimes sunk another pair of free throws with 1:53 remaining to put the Texans back up by six. Then just six seconds later, Arrington drove and scored to bring their deficit back to just four. After a Texan turnover, SU drove the lane for what looked like an easy layup, before the big right arm of Mpaka came out and swatted it away to thwart the scoring chance. On the inbound, the ball found the hands of John Christofilis who sunk a buzzer-beating triple against UTA, who made another triple with 56 ticks left to cut the Texan lead to one, 65-64.
In the final minute, Grimes missed the back end of two pairs of free throws. In the final 20 seconds, the Redhawks drove and missed a layup then got the ball back with 4.2 seconds left and called timeout. SU designed a play for Christofilis to try and be the hero again getting the ball with a second left in the corner and missing the game-tying shot to give Tarleton State its sixth conference win of the season and a series split with the Redhawks.
Tarleton State won the rebound battle, 35-28. After making their first four triples of the game, the Texans missed their final six, finishing four for ten from behind the arc. Seattle U won the turnover battle, 23-17, with the Purple and White notching their 11th victory in its D1 era when losing the turnover battle.
The Texans shot 17-for-42 from the floor, a 40.5 percent rate. The Redhawks shot at a slightly lower rate making 18 of their 51 shots, a 35.3 percent clip. SU made just three of their 20 shots from deep after making 15 in the first meeting between the two squads.
Tarleton State will have a week off before traveling up the road to UT Arlington next Saturday. The Texans will take on the Mavericks at the College Park Center at 7 p.m. The game will be nationally televised on ESPNU, one of three WAC games this season to be aired nationally.
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