TAMU-T hoops teams record big wins
Eagles baseball drops two in season-opening twin bill
Texarkana hold off Huston-tillotson, 75-71, in an entertaining RRAC contest at the Patterson Center. The Eagles (10-10 overall, 7-7 RRAC) snapped a four-game losing streak and pulled even with the Rams (9-7, 7-7) and North American to force a three-way tie for fourth in the conference.
The Eagles exploded out of the gate, building a 24-2 lead in the opening quarter and ending the first 10 minutes with a 26-8 lead. Williams and Quren Santiago each had 11 points in the first period, during which the hosts shot a scorching 76.9 percent. Williams made 13-of-17 shots in the game, including 5-of-8 from behind the arc. Santiago went 3-of-6 from deep and dished out five assists, helping the Eagles shoot 52.9 percent from the field (27-of-51).
Dyana Offutt led HTU with 17 points and Ariana Smith tossed in 11 to go with six rebounds and six assists. Jaslyn Woods had 10 points for the Eagles and Delfina Misuina added eight points and seven boards.
The Eagles led 42-23 at the half but were outscored 48-33 in the second half. Hutson-tillotson never led in the contest.
EAGLES TURN UP DEFENSE TO BEAT RAMS, STOP SKID
A&m-texarkana put together a total team effort Thursday highlighted by a lockdown defensive performance in the second half of a 70-62 win over Huston-tillotson at the Patterson Center, putting an end to the Eagles’ five-game losing streak.
A total of six players scored at least eight points for the Eagles (6-14 overall, 4-10 RRAC) and four reached double figures. Ajani Jamison had 12 points, Justin Davis had 11 points to go with six assists and Justin Brown added 11 points and four assists. Jeff Norment tossed in 10 points, Lavelle Zeigler had nine points and nine rebounds, and Dezmond Washington came off the bench to add eight points and four rebounds.
What was more impressive was the defensive effort late in the game. The Eagles trailed 41-35 at the break and allowed the Rams (6-14, 4-10) to shoot 57.1 percent before halftime. But they clamped down in the second half, allowing the Rams to score just 21 points after the break and shoot only 26.9 percent in the second half.
Jamison hit a triple and Norment
made consecutive layups just after halftime to give the Eagles a 44-43 lead, but the Rams would go back in front by seven with 14 minutes to play. But here came the Eagles again, putting together a 10-2 run to regain the lead with 10:18 left in Washington’s layup. The Eagles pushed their lead to eight with six minutes to go and held that until the final horn.
The Eagles committed just seven turnovers in the game and turned 10 HTU turnovers into 13 points. They also held a 22-11 advantage in bench scoring.
EAGLES STRUGGLE TO PUSH RUNS ACROSS IN SEASON OPENER
WICHITA, Kansas — A&m-texarkana found runs difficult to come by Thursday in a doubleheader with Friends University to officially start the 2024 season. The Eagles dropped a 6-2 decision in the opener before falling 4-1 in the finale.
The Eagles (0-2) had fallen behind 3-0 before getting on the scoreboard in the season-opener. Elvis Park reached base on an error in the fourth, allowing Hunter Reid and TJ Krause to both score.
Unfortunately, it would be the only runs produced by TAMU-T in the contest.
The Eagles managed just five hits — all singles — and left seven runners on base. Julian Macias, Brandon Riley, Shraedon Naeole-starkey, Freddie Madera, and Reid each finished with a hit.
Krause and Naeole-starkey each drew a pair of walks.
Gage Mason (0-1) took the loss, throwing four innings and allowing five hits and four earned runs while walking one and striking out one. Mason gave up a pair of solo home runs and had two wild pitches. Anthony Galindo tossed two innings of relief, walking two and striking out one while giving up one earned run and two hits.
In the second game of the doubleheader, It took the Eagles until the final inning to get their lone run. Oscar Sanchez (0-1) threw 5.2 strong innings, giving up just six hits and four runs with three strikeouts, but got little in the way of run support. Marcus Tidwell struck out one in 0.1 innings of relief.
The Eagles managed just five hits and struck out 10 times without drawing a walk. In his TAMU-T debut, Adam Garren had a pair of hits including a double and Reid drove in the lone run of the game for the Eagles — a sacrifice fly that scored Garren in the seventh. Macias, Riley, and Xavier Selway each had a single.