Top ranked South Plains takes unblemished record to #3 Odessa in season finale

Odessa, TX – In a rematch of the top two teams in the West Junior College Athletic Conference between #1 ranked and undefeated South Plains College (Levelland, TX) and one loss #3 Odessa College, a Conference regular season championship, and #1 seed at the WJCAC tournament next week were all that was at stake. Only, because both teams usually have a longer list of goals on the chalkboard at the beginning of each season.

Bragging rights were also at stake, since, well, not only due these two teams play in the same state, are in the same District/Region, in the same Conference, and what’s more, their campuses are barely two hours apart.

In the first hook-up back in early March, South Plains was taken to overtime by the Wranglers, but emerged from the dust with a 96-93 victory. That is the only loss to date on Odessa’s record. The second meeting, had a little different ending.

Odessa scored first, and the game quickly was tied at 2. That however, was the only tie of the game, and believe it or not, there were no lead changes. The host Wranglers weren’t very hospitable to their visitors from Levelland, TX, 140 miles to the North. That’s right…the #1 team in the country never led. Odessa held on to even the season series with a 74-68 conquest.

This game was practically a mirror image of the first contest at South Plains, at least the way the game unfolded with the home team winning. In that game, the host Texans were in control most of the way, leading by 15 with 7 minutes remaining. OC chipped away and finally tied it before succumbing in the five minute extension of play.

This time, Odessa in front of a decent, covid distanced, but boisterous home crowd, took control fairly early and led 38-25 at half. The Texans had trouble finding the bottom of the nets at the Odessa College Sports Center, shooting 30% in the first half, and 35% for the game. Odessa wasn’t on fire, but, despite 50% shooting from the FT line, hit enough FG’s to take down Numero Uno! Ball control was key in the Wranglers win, as OC only committed 3 turnovers and out rebounded the Texans by nine.

The Wranglers took their largest lead at 17, with just under a minute to play in the first period. South Plains was able to trim it in the first ten minutes of the second half, and actually was able to cut the lead to 4 several time down the stretch, but couldn’t get the key plays to pull out the win.

Odessa was led in scoring by Dancell Leter, who finished with 18 points. Isiah Turner added 12 with 10 rebounds. Tre Richardson came off the bench to round out the double digit scorers for the Wranglers. In their first loss of the season, South Plains also had three in double figures. Rivaldo Soares paced SPC with 21 points and 13 rebounds. Philmon Gebrewhit tossed in 14 with Yuot Gai adding 12.

With the win, Odessa now stands at 20-1 overall, and 13-1 in the WJCAC, earning top honors as regular season conference champion. South Plains, who falls to 17-1 and 12-1, had a conference game vs. Midland cancelled last week that will not be made up. As a result, Odessa will receive the #1 seed at next weeks WJCAC post season tournament.

Missing from the line-up for South Plains was Myron Gardner, the Georgetown Univ. transfer, who was the leading scorer (22 in reserve role) when these two heavyweights met a month ago. Gardner along with Soares are the Texans leading scorer tandum, each averaging 14.4 PPG entering tonight’s contest.

The WJCAC tournament kicks off next Monday, April 5, with quarterfinal action. The semifinals and finals will be Tuesday and Wednesday, April 6 & 7. All games are scheduled to be played at RIP Griffin Center at Lubbock Christian University, Lubbock, TX. The WJCAC champ and Northern Texas Junior College Athletic Conference tournament champ will square of for the Southwest District Championship on Saturday, April 10 at the Coliseum at Western Texas College in Snyder, TX. The winner of that game will receive an automatic bid to the NJCAA national tournament in Hutchinson, KS, April 19-24.