MIDLAND The No. 13-ranked Odessa College men’s basketball team used a strong second half run to pull away from Weatherford College in a 73-59 win in the first game of the Bob Chapman Classic Thursday at the Chaparral Center.
Playing their third game in four days, the Wranglers moved to 2-1 while the Coyotes fell to 0-2.
Leading by just five points with 11 minutes remaining in the game, Odessa College used a 25-12 run to put the game out of reach for Weatherford College and take a 71-53 lead with under two minutes to go.
The Wranglers shot 24-of-56 from the field while going 10-27 on 3-pointers and 15-of-23 on free throws.
Odessa College’s Ahmere Carson went 4-of-7 from the field, 2-of-3 on 3-pointers and was a perfect 4-of-4 from the free throw line, finishing with 14 points while Jayden Colon finished with 13 points after going 5-of-8 from the field and 3-of-4 on free throws.
Turnovers, however, continued to haunt the Wranglers as they had 17 while the Coyotes had 14.
“I thought Jayden Colon did really well as a freshman,” Odessa College head coach Kris Baumann said. “He played really good. I thought Jason Robinson did pretty well and I’m proud of Ahmere Carson. He made some pretty big shots. But we have to take care of the ball. I thought we were still really sloppy. Our point guard play has also got to get better before we get into league play.”
The Coyotes finished 23-of-51 and were 0-10 on 3-pointers. They went 13-of-19 on free throws.
Weatherford College was led in scoring by Antwan Wilson’s 18 points as he went 8-of-14 on field goals and 2-of-4 on free throws. His teammate Braylon Crosby went 4-of-7 on field goals and 5-of-7 on free throws to finish with 13 points.
The Wranglers were coming off a 73-63 loss to McLennan Community College on Tuesday at the UCO Classic in Edmond, Okla.
“We just haven’t been able to take care of the ball,” Baumann said. “You can’t do that at this level. We have a bunch of new guys but we have to learn to take care of the basketball. We have a lot of work to do. We have some young guys but we have to get better and we have a lot of games coming up.”
The Wranglers began the game on a 14-8 run.
A free throw by Jojo Muyo gave the Wranglers a 22-19 lead with 4:32 left in the first half.
The Coyotes closed the gap to 24-23 after a layup by Larry Elting with 3:38 remaining.
The Wranglers used a 5-2 run to build a 29-25 lead.
A layup by Colon gave the Wranglers a 31-27 advantage heading into halftime.
Both teams kept things close early in the second half.
A layup by Trey Maxwell gave the Wranglers a 46-41 lead at the 11:50 mark.
Free throws by Carson gave the Wranglers a 53-45 lead with 8:00 left.
Carson added a 3-pointers shortly after to make it 56-47 with 7:40 remaining.
A transition layup by Bradford made it 58-47 as the Wranglers kept their foot on the gas pedal.
Another 3-pointer by Carson made it 63-51 with 4:38 left.
Coleman then added an outside basket as the Wranglers took a comfortable 15-point advantage.
There was no looking back as Odessa College finished up with the win.
The Wranglers will continue their run in the Bob Chapman Classic by facing Strength N’ Motion at 1 p.m. Friday at the Chaparral Center.
Weatherford College will face Howard College at 3 p.m. Friday, following the Wranglers’ game.
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