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basketball Edit

Three Bucs score 18 points to beat McLennan

Waco, TX – The Blinn Buccaneers strolled into Waco Tuesday night looking for a sweep of the Highlanders of McLennan College and behind the scoring strength of sophomores Cardell McGee, AJ Rainey, and Tristan Ikpe, all scored 18 points each, the Buccaneers came out victorious, 75-69.

Last week the Highlanders visited Blinn in Brenham, and Blinn won that matchup 89-86.

“McLennan is a first-class Division I program and (head) Coach (Kevin) Gill does a great job preparing his teams, so to sweep them is a nice accomplishment,” said Blinn head coach Scott Schumacher.

At the half, Blinn held a 7-point advantage, 37-30, but Schumacher had his concerns.

Blinn was in control for most of the game, but with 13:17 in the second half, McLennan took their first lead of the game, 42-41 off a lay-in by freshman Isaiah Wyatt (finished with 12 points). The Highlanders fought back and the game went back and forth in the middle minutes of the half.

“We stuck to what we did before and didn’t change much,” said Schumacher of his team’s game plan. “I thought our guys guarded really, really well. I have to give credit to McLennan for getting a lot of rebounds on us and extending their possessions on the clock, but we hung in there.

“We told [our guys] that when the ball was shot, [McLennan] had five players going to the boards and we needed to counter them by attacking the glass with them.

Blinn went down by six points, 57-51, and then the outside shooting of the Bucs helped take the lead back for good.

“We hit some threes late and were able to pull away.”

Two big three-pointers flew out of the hands of point guard AJ Rainey. Rainey nailed two threes from the right side of the court to give the Bucs a four-point lead and then again to extend it to eight, 70-61 with under 3-minutes to go.

“AJ is a returner who was our leading scorer last season,” said Schumacher. “He plays within the game plan and when the game is on the line, he wants the ball and wants to make the big plays. It was no surprise that he hit those two threes.”

Blinn ended the game on a 24-12 run in the last 7:42 of the game.

The transition begins for Blinn who will enter Region 14 conference play this weekend.

“One reason why we schedule the McLennan type teams and traveled to Midland for a tournament was to prepare us for conference,” Schumacher says. “We felt that we have a great group of sophomores and we wanted them to be challenged and ready for conference.”

Freshman to watch…

Chris Pryor is a 5-foot-11 point guard whose game translates from his days at DeSoto High School to now, at McLennan. He is a pure point guard who scans the floor and reads the defense. He sees the next play and hits the hole to attack the rim or to distribute as the defense collapse. The freshman plays at different paces depending on the situation and plays under control.

Best Player on the court was… Tristan Ikpe…

Ikpe’s stats say it all. The sophomore finished with a double-double scoring 18 points and pulling down 12 boards. He is a bit undersized, but Ikpe is a warrior in the paint and competes. He is ready for the next level.

High praise from coach Schumacher

“Tristan Ikpe is a coach's dream he is a war-daddy, he plays to win and is an intense competitor.”

By the Numbers…

The McLennan Highlanders out-muscled the Blinn Buccaneers on the glass 37-33 and grabbed 18 offensive rebounds. The Highlanders also won the battle of percentages at the free-throw line going 15-21 for 71%, compared to a 63% night for the Bucs (17-27).

McLennan had five players in Double-figures with eight different players putting points on the board. Blinn relied on four players reaching the double-figure mark and only had five players total scoring.

The difference in the game? 33% from the field night for the Highlanders, while shooting 26% from the arc.

Double-Digit Scorers & Stats

Blinn Buccaneers

POINTS: Tristan Ikpe 18; Cardell McGee 18; AJ Rainey 18; Nic Tata 13

REBOUNDS: Tristan Ikpe 12; Nic Tata 7

ASSISTS: Cardell McGee 5; Tristan Ikpe 4

BLOCKS: Tristan Ikpe 2

McLennan Highlanders

POINTS: Lorenzo Anderson 12; Chris Pryor 12; Isaiah Wyatt 12; Akili Vining 11; Claven Wilson 10;

REBOUNDS: Tre Thomas 8; Claven Wilson 7; Chris Pryor 6

ASSISTS: Chris Pryor 4

What’s Next?

The Blinn Buccaneers will head into Region 14 Conference play starting this Saturday as they take on Paris at Home. The Bucs are entering the Conference match up 7-1, and have received votes in the national NJCAA Pole. Three out of the next four games for Blinn will be Conference play.

McLennan will continue their non-conference schedule as they host Paul Quinn JV on Thursday.

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