College basketball: Hawks ground Wranglers’ bid for Region 5 title

The Odessa College Wranglers' season ended Saturday with a 63-57 loss to Howard College in the semifinals of the NJCAA Region 5 Tournament.
Sean Watson scored 20 points and Markeys Deans had 18 points for Howard, which took advantage of 21 turnovers by Odessa College at the Mayborn Center in the third meeting of the season between the teams.
"We turned it over too much," said OC coach Dennis Helms. "That was a huge situation right there. At halftime, it was 16-5 in turnovers."
Those turnovers helped Howard take a 28-24 halftime lead, and the Hawks stayed in front the rest of the way.
"You end up playing the second half from behind," Helms said. "We were behind the whole time. It's not easy playing a pressure team behind. We turned it over to where they probably got double figures off layups. You've certainly held somebody to enough points to win a basketball game if you don't do that."
Howard (25-7), the third seed from the WJCAC, will meet fourth seed South Plains at 2 p.m. today in the championship game. The winner advances to the NJCAA National Tournament in Hutchinson, Kan.
South Plains beat No. 7 Midland College 90-78 in the other semifinal.
Saturday's results guarantee that a team finishing third or lower in the WJCAC will qualify for the national tournament for the second year in a row. Midland College finished third in conference last season, but the Chaparrals went on to win the national championship.
No. 8 OC (27-5) had four of its losses to Western Junior College Athletic Conference teams. Howard was the only team to beat the Wranglers twice - winning 103-76 on Dec. 3 at Big Spring and losing 82-76 at Odessa on Feb. 4.
Carlos Rodriguez had 11 points and 11 rebounds for OC, while Tommie Sykes also scored 11 points. Odessa High graduate Jamel Guyton had nine points, Jesse Joseph scored eight points, and Delrico Lane had seven points.
"These kids did a lot to make Odessa proud," Helms said. "They got a share of the conference championship being picked fifth in the league. I'm proud of them. That's the No. 1 thing I can say."

THE MEN

Region V Tournament
At University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, Belton
Thursday's Games
First Round
Midland College 76, Collin County 58
South Plains 92, Weatherford 87
Odessa College 91, McLennan 90, OT
Howard 73, Temple 71
---
Saturday's Games
Semifinals
South Plains 90, Midland College 78
Howard 63, Odessa College 57
---
Today's Game
Final
South Plains (25-5) vs. Howard (25-7), 2 p.m.

Howard 63, No. 8 Odessa College 57

HOWARD COLLEGE (25-7)
Corey Allmond 4-11 0-0 9, Denzel Barnes 1-5 0-2 2, Sean Watson 6-12 5-8 20, Markeys Deans 7-11 3-4 18, Cheick Kone 0-0 0-0 0, Devon Baker 4-5 0-0 9, Corteze Isaac 2-6 0-0 5, Vladimir Gavranic 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-50 8-14 63.
ODESSA COLLEGE (27-5)
Jamel Guyton 3-13 1-2 9, Jesse Joseph 4-5 0-0 8, Delrico Lane 2-6 2-2 7, Tommie Sykes 2-5 7-11 11, Carlos Rodriguez 4-8 2-2 11, Devon McLendon 1-8 3-4 6, Damien Williams 2-3 1-3 5, Jerel Blocker 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-48 16-24 57.
Halftime - Howard College 28, Odessa College 24. 3-Point goals - HC 7-17 (Allmond 1-6, Watson 3-6, Deans 1-1, Baker 1-2, Isaac 1-2), OC 5-24 (Guyton 2-9, Lane 1-2, Sykes 0-1, Rodriguez 1-4, McLendon 1-8). Total fouls - HC 16, OC 13. Fouled out - none. Technical fouls - none. Rebounds - HC 17 (Deans 6), OC 34 (Rodriguez 11). Assists - HC 8 (Barnes 3), OC 3 (Lane 1, Sykes 1, McLendon 1).

THE WOMEN

Region V Tournament
At University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, Belton
Today's Games
First Round
Howard 76, McLennan 75
South Plains 77, Collin County 70
Midland College 70, Temple 53
Western Texas 69, Weatherford 68
---
Saturday's Games
Semifinals
South Plains 69, Howard 62
Midland College 59, Western Texas 38
---
Today's Game
Final
South Plains (26-3) vs. Midland College (27-5), 5 p.m.