Odessa College holds off Westerners

Western Texas College came up short in a 75-73 loss to Odessa College in a Western Junior College Athletic Conference basketball game at The Coliseum Thursday.
The Westerners (11-7, 3-2) led 43-34 midway through the second half, but. Odessa (15-3, 4-1) went on an 11-1 run to take the lead and held on down the stretch.
Late in the second half, Christian Bennings’ 3-pointer pulled WTC to within 72-68 and Jorden Evans made a 3-pointer with five seconds remaining to cut the deficit to 75-73.
After Odessa missed two free throws, Jordan Tolbert’s half-court shot was short.
“I told the players we needed to improve on making plays at the right time,” WTC head coach Andre Owens said. “Odessa won the league championship last year and has the championship mentality. You have to play that way at the end of games. Odessa made winning plays. We had too many little mistakes at the end of the game.”
DeQuan Jeffries scored 23 points and had 10 rebounds for WTC, which is tied with Midland College for third place. Evans had 11 points.
“Jeffries was more involved on offense during the second half and we needed him to do that,” Owens said. “Brian Roberts battled on the boards, along with Kolbe Kinghorn. When they play big, we have a complete team and a good chance to win.”
Sammy Barnes-Thompson and Delshon Strickland scored 16 and 15 points, respectively, for Odessa. Jeremiah Livington had 13 points.
Odessa led most of the first half, but WTC was able to tie the game at 25-25 with a 9-2 run. But Odessa was able to take a 32-30 halftime lead.
WTC scored five points to start the second half and built a nine-point lead before Odessa’s run.
“We played hard and I can’t ask for anything else more from them,” Owens said. “Every game is important. We have two big games next week with four of our next five games at home. “We need to take care of our home court and collect wins.”
The Westerners will host Frank Phillips College Monday and play at Clarendon College Thursday.

Odessa College scorers — Sammy Barnes-Thompson 16, Delshon Strickland 15, Jeremiah Livingston 13, Tyree Robinson 10, Kejuan Johnson 7, Keyon Jones 6, Madon Hunter 2, Develle Phillips 2, Tyshon Rogers 2, Keandre Cook 2.
WTC scorers — DeQuan Jeffries 23, Jordan Evans 11, Jordan Tolbert 9, Anton Bilous 8, Kevin Hicks 6, Christian Bennings 5, Brian Roberts 4, Josh Proche 4, Kolbe Kinghorn 2, Zarious Moffett 1.
WTC statistics — DeQuan Jeffries 10 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block; Kevin Hicks 2 rebounds, 1 assist; Jordan Tolbert 4 rebounds, 3 assists; Brian Roberts 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block; Anton Bilous 3 rebounds, 3 assists; Josh Proche 2 rebounds, 2 assists; Zarious Moffett 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal; Jordan Evans 1 rebound, 1 steal; Ja’Niro Lane 2 rebounds; Christian Bennings 2 rebounds; Kolbe Kinghorn 3 rebounds.