The Highlanders defeated the Cougars 82-78 on the road in Plano.
The Highlanders opened the game on fire with an 11-0 run including four points from Dillon Gooding and a dunk from Rayquan Brown. McLennan lead by 12, 19-7, with 13:30 to go in the first half. Collin began to rally and tied the game at 33 with 5:12 to play in the half. The Highlanders' Chris Pryor put together a 5-0 run of his own to put McLennan back up by five, 38-33. McLennan led 43-37 with 2:36 remaining before the break. Collin ended the half on a 10-2 run to take a two-point lead into halftime, 47-45.
The two teams kept it close and traded the lead for the first 11 minutes of the second half. Collin led 63-32 with 8:58 remaining. McLennan broke the game open with a 13-0 run over the next four minutes. The run included six points from Rayquan Brown and five from Kirk Smith Jr. The Highlanders continued to lead by 12, 79-67 with 2:09 to go. A pair of free throws and back-to-back 3-pointers pulled Collin within four with 48 seconds to play, 79-75. Diego Gonzalez and Maurice Harvey combined to go 3-4 from the free throw line to extend the Highlanders' lead to seven, 82-75. Orion Virden drained a 3-pointer with less than a second on the clock but it wasn't enough.
Rayquan Brown led the Highlanders with a double double, 23 points and 10 rebounds. Kirk Smith Jr. also recorded a double double with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Chris Pryor added 14 points. Dillon Gooding and Diego Gonzalez scored 11 points each.
McLennan: Dillon Gooding 4 2-2 11; Amani Harris 0 0-0 0; Maurice Harvey 1 3-4 5; Nehemiah Nuckolls 1 0-1 2; Chris Pryor 6 0-0 17; Rayquan Brown 10 3-4 23; Diego Gonzalez 2 6-7 11; Isaiah Placide 0 0-0 0; Asare Otchere 0 0-0 0; Kirk Smith Jr. 5 3-6 13; Totals: 29 17-24 82.
Collin: CJ Washington 4 3-4 12; Antoine Smith Jr 7 4-4 20; Kadar Waller 2 3-3 7; Orion Virden 1 2-2 5; Chozen Amadi 0 0-0 0; Daylen Minor 3 0-0 8; John Achebe 1 0-0 2; Trazarien White 7 2-3 16; Alex Stoimenov 8 1-1 16; Totals: 28 15-17 78.
3-pointers: McLennan 7 (Pryor 5, Gooding 1, Gonzalez 1), Collin 7 (Smith Jr. 2, Minor 2, Washington 1, Virden 1, Stoimenov 1); Total fouls: McLennan 17, Collin 18; Halftime score: Collin 47, McLennan 45; Record: McLennan 16-2 (10-2).
