Western Texas College capitalized on a late turnover in holding off Midland College, 67-66, Thursday night in a Western Junior College Athletic Conference basketball game.
Midland’s Grant Weatherford grabbed an offensive rebound, but stepped out of bounds with 1.7 seconds left in the game. After a timeout, the Westerners (16-9, 8-4) attempted to inbound the basketball, but it was deflected and the referee signaled that the game was over despite the final horn not sounding.
Midland led by four points in the first minute of the game, but WTC took the lead and never trailed again. The Westerners led by as many as eight points in the first half after shooting 48.6 percent from the field.
WTC held a 42-37 lead halftime lead, but were outscored by Midland (13-13, 4-8) 29-25 in the second half.
DaQuan Jeffries led the Westerners with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Jordan Evans and Jordon Fullerton came off the bench to score 13 and 12 points, respectively.
WTC’s bench outscored Midland 29-12. Anton Bilous added 10 points for WTC.
Roland Griffin scored 19 points for Midland while Juan Cardenas finished with 14 points and 16 rebounds.
WTC scorers — DaQuan Jeffries 17, Jordan Evans 13, Jordon Fullerton 12, Anton Bilous 10, Kevin Hicks 7, Josh Proche 3, Brian Roberts 2, Ja’Niro Lane 2, Kolbe Kinghorn 1.
Women
Midland College took control of the game in the third quarter to claim a 62-53 win over WTC.
Midland (16-7, 7-4) held a 15-9 lead after the first quarter, but the Lady Westerners (10-11, 3-7) used a 17-10 scoring edge in the second quarter to take a 26-25 halftime lead.
The Lady Chaps took a 43-39 lead into the fourth quarter by outscoring WTC 18-13.
Midland outscored the Lady Westerners 19-14 in the fourth quarter.
WTC’s Kyra Lewis finished with 16 points while Jauslynn Shephard and Catara Samuel each scored 11 points. Esther Udonsi finished with seven points and 10 rebounds.
Janea Bunn led Midland with 15 points, 23 rebounds and seven blocked shots. Kayla Bretherton finished with 11 points.
WTC will travel to play Odessa College on Monday. The women’s game will begin at 5:45 p.m. and the men will follow at 7:30 p.m.
WTC scorers — Kyra Lewis 13, Jauslynn Shephard 11, Catara Samuel 11, Esther Udonsi 7, Allison Valdez 4, Mayra Garcia 3, McKenna Spikes 1.