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Western Texas College’s Anton Bilous drives to the basket during Thursday’s game against Howard College. Bilious scored 13 points in WTC’s 65-64 win.
With a 65-64 Western Junior College Athletic Conference win over Howard College Thursday, Western Texas College moved into third place in the conference.
The Westerners (14-9, 6-4) are one-half game ahead of New Mexico Junior College and one game ahead of Howard. The top four teams in the conference will qualify for the Region V Tournament.
WTC, which never trailed, led 31-22 at halftime, but Howard pulled to within two points three different times. The Westerners made 9-of-11 free throws in the second half to seal the win.
“We made free throws, but we need to do a better job of getting defensive stops,” WTC head coach Andre Owens said. “We scored timely field goals late in the game. I knew Howard would keep fighting until the end. We really needed to win this game and every game will be big for the rest of the season.”
DaQuan Jeffries scored 21 points and had 11 rebounds. Anton Bilous had 13 points and Demarcus Hartfield came off the bench to score 10 points.
“I challenged Jeffries this week to stay out of foul trouble,” Owens said. “He is capable of games like this when he does. Demarcus does a good job of coming off the bench and plays hard. We need to get Jordan (Evans) back in the groove.”
The Westerners built a 23-14 lead with eight minutes left in the first half.
Howard pulled to within 23-18 before Jeffries answered with two field goals. WTC was able to take a 31-22 lead into the lockerroom.
WTC increased its lead to 13 points early in the second half, but Howard was able to cut it to 51-46 midway through the second half.
Owens said Josh Proche stepped up at a critical time. He scored four points to help WTC maintain the lead.
“Howard was daring Josh to shoot,” Owens said. “I’m proud that he stepped up and answered the challenge.”
Owens was pleased his team bounced back from two straight home losses to South Plains College and New Mexico Junior College.
“I liked the way they came back from those losses,” Owens said. “We have another big game against New Mexico Military Institute on the road Monday. We need to keep it going. NMMI is a tough defensive team and we need to be ready to go.”
Howard College scorers — Marcel Cherry 19, Kelvin Riley 13, Dante Scott 10, Nicolas Thomas 10, Srdan Budimif 8, Shawn Jones 3, Amari McCray 2.
WTC scorers — DaQuan Jeffries 21, Anton Bilous 13, Demarcus Hartfield 10, Brian Roberts 6, Jordan Tolbert 4, Josh Proche 4, Jordon Fullerton 3, Christian Bennings 2, Kolbe Kinghorn 2.
WTC statistics — DaQuan Jeffries 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, 1 block; Kevin Hicks 1 rebound, 1 assist; Jordan Tolbert 3 rebounds, 7 assists; Brian Roberts 5 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block; Anton Bilous 3 rebounds, 2 assists; Josh Proche 3 assists, 2 steals; Jordan Evans 1 assist; Ja’Niro Lane 2 rebounds; Demarcus Hatfield 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 block; Kolbe Kinghorn 5 rebounds, 1 assist.