Odessa College’s Tommie Sykes, right, tries to pass around South Plains’ Nick Okorie during the first half of the Western Junior College Athletic Conference game at the OC Sports Center on Monday night. (Kevin Buehler / Odessa American)

College basketball: Lane’s FTs let OC sneak past No. 3 South Plains

January 14, 2008 11:47 PM

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BY SAM WALLER

Nothing came easy for the Odessa College Wranglers on Monday, which made handing the third-ranked team in the nation its first loss that much sweeter.

Delrico Lane hit two free throws with eight seconds remaining to help OC pull out a 67-65 victory over the South Plains Texans in a Western Junior College Athletic Conference game at the OC Sports Center.

The game saw 21 lead changes and 13 ties before Lane finished off a 13-point performance by converting a one-and-one opportunity. South Plains got the last shot, but Landon Tatum’s 3-point attempt bounced off and OC’s Damien Williams grabbed the rebound as time ran out.

�We all played together, and we all played hard,� said Lane, who was one of four OC players to reach double figures. �Coach (Dennis Helms) was telling us that anybody can be beat. We played hard and had good chemistry, didn’t lose our heads and came out with a victory.�

Odessa College (16-2 overall, 3-1 conference) now has won five consecutive games, and the last four have come after the dismissal of leading scorer and rebounder Dragoslav Papic during the semester break.

Odessa High graduate Jamel Guyton scored 13 points, Tommie Sykes had 12 points and Carlos Rodriguez scored 10 points for Odessa College.

�We played very well as a team and did what we had to do to win,� Helms said. �The free throws there down the stretch were huge.�

South Plains (16-1, 4-1) matched its lowest scoring output of the season in what was just its second game decided by less than 10 points. The Texans came in averaging 95.2 points per game with an average margin of victory of 25.2.

�I thought we turned the ball over way too much,� said South Plains coach Steve Green, whose team lost the ball 19 times. �We just made too many mistakes in critical situations and didn’t give ourselves a chance to win the game. You’ve got to hope for something miraculous and you really don’t deserve it.�

Nick Okorie scored a game-high 25 points for South Plains. Luciano de Souza had 11 points, and Tatum scored 10 points.

The game was a back-and-forth affair for most of the 40 minutes.

Odessa College took the biggest lead of the night at 48-40 when Williams capped a 9-1 run with 12:39 remaining, but South Plains responded with an 11-0 run to take its biggest lead at 51-48 when Okorie hit two free throws with 9:45 to go.

Neither team led by more than a basket in the first half until Guyton hit a 3-pointer with 6:12 left in the half to put OC ahead 21-17. The Wranglers took a 26-25 advantage into halftime after Jesse Joseph scored with 38 seconds left.

South Plains’ last lead was at 63-61 with 3:35 left. Rodriguez scored to tie it up and Guyton’s dunk off a steal put OC back in front. Okorie knotted it up one last time, hitting a 12-footer with 20 seconds left.

Odessa College 67, No. 3 South Plains 65

SOUTH PLAINS COLLEGE (16-1 overall, 4-1 in WJCAC)

Jonathan Hall 1-2 0-0 2, Landon Tatum 4-6 2-2 10, Nick Okorie 9-19 3-6 25, Luciano de Souza 4-8 0-0 11, Lu Griffin 1-3 1-2 3, Phillip Outley 0-0 0-0 0, David Tairu 3-9 2-4 8, Kendrick Johnson 2-3 0-0 4, Hugh Mingo 0-1 2-2 2, Carlos Dos Santos 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 24-53 10-17 65.

ODESSA COLLEGE (16-2, 3-1)

Jamel Guyton 5-19 0-0 13, Delrico Lane 4-8 3-3 13, Tommie Sykes 5-9 1-2 12, Carlos Rodriguez 4-9 2-2 10, Jesse Joseph 3-7 1-1 7, Devon McLendon 2-4 4-4 9, Dexter McMarion 0-0 0-0 0, Damien Williams 1-4 1-6 3. Totals 24-60 12-17 67.

Halftime — Odessa College 26, South Plains College 25. 3-Point goals — SPC 7-21 (Tatum 0-1, Okorie 4-9, de Souza 3-8, Tairu 0-2, Mingo 0-1), OC 7-22 (Guyton 3-12. Lane 2-2. Sykes 1-2. Rodriguez 0-3. McLendon 1-3). Total fouls — SPC 17, OC 13. Fouled out - none. Technical fouls — none. Rebounds — SPC 36 (de Souza 7, Griffin 7), OC 36 (Sykes 8). Assists — SPC 10 (Okorie 3, de Souza 3), OC 11 (Lane 6).

WJCAC Men

Overall Conf.

W L W L

Midland College 18 1 4 1

South Plains 16 1 4 1

Howard 13 3 4 1

Odessa College 16 2 3 1

Western Texas 12 5 2 2

Frank Phillips 13 7 2 3

New Mexico JC 8 9 1 3

New Mexico Military 4 12 0 4

Clarendon 9 7 0 4