Box Score STEPHENVILLE, Texas – The St. Edward's men's basketball team dropped its first contest of the season as it fell to Tarleton State, 87-70, on the first night of the Texan Tip-off Classic at Wisdom Gymnasium Friday evening.
 
St. Edward's (2-1) opened up strong by taking an 11-10 lead in the first six minutes of action. Both JAMES STUKES and ETHAN GILBERT had four points during the opening run to pace the Hilltoppers.
 
Over the next six minutes, Tarleton State (2-0) answered with a 16-3 run to open a 26-14 lead, with 8:43 on the clock. Chuck Guy and Tashawn Mabry each had four points as the home team opened its early lead.
 
A three-pointer by JOHN GRAMLICH and a dunk by HARLEY NUSSMAN quickly got St. Edward's back in the game by cutting the lead to 28-21 with 6:04 on the clock.
 
The Texans got eight free throws in the final six minutes to help open a 46-33 halftime lead.
 
The Hilltoppers only shot 34.6 percent from the floor in the first frame, while Tarleton State was 95.2 percent (20-21) from the charity stripe.
 
In the second half, a tip-in by De'Andre Upchurch at the 9:53 mark gave Tarleton State its largest lead of the game at that point, 65-47. St. Edward's hit three shots from behind the arc over the next three minutes to cut the lead to 69-58, with seven minutes remaining in the contest. However, back-to-back buckets from the Texan's Devane Carter pushed the lead up to 15 as Tarleton State ran away with the contest.
 
Tarleton State outscored the Hilltoppers, 40-16 in the paint and outrebounded them, 36-21.
 
Stukes led the Hilltoppers in scoring for the second time in three games this season as he registered 16 points. Gilbert added nine points while CHRIS WACKER chipped in with eight points off of the bench. Gramlich finished the night with five points, two steals and team-high three assists.


St. Edward's will face Texas A&M-Commerce on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. at Wisdom Gymnasium. Live video and stats provided on the Tarleton State Athletic Website.