Complete Box Score

FORT WORTH, Texas – Joey Gladney and David Johnson each recorded double-doubles, leading the Rams past Huston-Tillotson College in the first round of the Red River Conference tournament. Gladney scored 27 points and grabbed 17 rebounds and Johnson scored 14 with 12 boards as Wesleyan won 79-70.

Brad Schilder got Wesleyan on the board first with a bucket just five seconds into the game, but the first few minutes would be a back-and-forth affair. Each team held brief two-point leads. Jerry Shorter connected with 16:19 on the clock to give Huston-Tillotson a 9-7 lead, but Wesleyan, assisted by four Huston-Tillotson turnovers, scored the next nine points to build up a 16-9 lead.

Five minutes later, Huston-Tillotson came back with a brief run of their own to get within one point, but that was as close as they would come for the rest of the night. Gladney and Kenny Johnson combined to score eight quick points for Wesleyan, and with just over three minutes to play in the half, the Rams had built the lead up to 12 at 32-20. The teams traded points from there and went into the break at 39-28.

Wesleyan came out firing in the second half, pouring in a pair of buckets to quickly build the lead to 15. Gladney’s free throws at 15:23 pushed the lead up to 17, and the Rams looked to put the game away early. The double-digit lead only held up until the 5:06 mark, when a 13-4 run by Huston-Tillotson cut it to eight points. Less than a minute later, Christopher Cormier scored off of a Wesleyan turnover, and cut the lead to six.

James Whitfield buried a three-pointer to restore a nine-point lead with 3:51 to play, but Huston-Tillotson responded by scoring five points in less than 15 seconds to cut the once-huge lead down to four.

Wesleyan spent much of the remaining time at the free throw line, and thought they didn’t shoot particularly well (12-20 over the last 3:14), Gladney and Schilder each hit a pair with right around 30 seconds remaining, and the Rams were able to keep Huston-Tillotson at bay, holding on for a nine-point victory.

Shorter led Huston-Tillotson with 23 points, hitting seven of 13 attempts, including four of seven three-pointers. He also co-led his team with six rebounds. Wade finished with 17 points, and Christopher Cormier had 11. As a team, the Rams shot just 36.5 percent from the floor, but did make 70 percent of their free throws.

Gladney led Wesleyan in scoring and rebounding, and David Johnson was second in both categories. Kenny Johnson scored 12, Whitfield had ten, and Whaley and Schilder each finished with eight points. Whaley recorded a season-high ten rebounds, and Whitfield, Schilder and Kenny Johnson each had six boards. As a team, the Rams shot 41.2 percent from the floor, though only 20 percent from beyond the arc.

The Rams pounded the offensive boards for 26 rebounds, which helped them out-rebounded an opponent for the second time in their last seven games. They finished with a 61-31 overall edge.

Wesleyan, the third seed in this year’s tournament, advances to face Jarvis Christian College in the semi-finals on Friday night at Waxahachie High School. The second-ranked Bulldogs defeated #7 Bacone College in Hawkins on Saturday to advance. The Rams split two games against Jarvis this season, winning 78-67 in Hawkins on December 14, and losing 96-85 at home on February 8.

The game this Friday is scheduled to tip-off at 7:30 PM, and the winner advances to a Saturday night date in the finals against the winner of Houston Baptist/Langston. If both the Rams and Houston Baptist advance, the Rams are guaranteed a spot in the 32-team national tournament in Kansas later this month.