The McLennan Highlanders fell to the Ranger Rangers 85-73 this afternoon in the semifinal round of the North Texas Junior College Athletic Conference Tournament.
Ranger opened the game on a 10-3 run but the Highlanders came roaring back. Dillon Gooding drained a 3-pointer to start a 7-0 run for the McLennan. Gooding scored the first eight points in the game for the Highlanders, and Rayquan Brown added a bucket to tie the game at 10 with 15:47 to go in the first half. Ranger responded with an-0 run to begin pulling away. The Rangers took their first double-digit lead at 27-17 with 12:03 remaining in the first half. Ranger continued to pull away and McLennan trailed 48-33 at the half.
The Rangers kept the Highlanders at arm's length throughout the second half. McLennan rallied to trim the lead to 10 at 71-61 a couple times down the stretch but that would be as close as the Highlanders could get.
Dillon Gooding led the Highlanders with 25 points including five 3-pointers. Rayquan Brown and Chris Pryor scored 16 and 14, respectively.
The Highlanders end the season with an overall record of 18-5 and 10-4 in conference play.
Ranger 85, McLennan 73
McLennan: Dillon Gooding 6 8-8 25; Maurice Harvey 2 0-0 5; Nehemiah Nuckolls 1 2-2 4; Chris Pryor 4 6-7 14; Rayquan Brown 7 2-2 16; Diego Gonzalez 1 0-2 3; Asare Otchere 0 1-2 6; Kirk Smith Jr. 1 3-6 5; Totals: 22 22-29 73.
Ranger: Trey Tennyson 2 0-0 5; Starlin Hamilton 2 4-4 10; Tiras Morton 2 1-3 5; Peyton Rogers-Schmidt 0 0-0 0; Nika Metskhvarishvili 6 1-1 14; Jorell Saterfield 8 1-1 21; Mark Mayle 1 1-2 3; Keisei Tominaga 10 0-1 25; Kenyuoe Ondaan 2 0-0 5; Totals: 32 8-12 85.
3-pointers: McLennan 7 (Gooding 5, Harvey 1, Gonzalez 1), Ranger 13
Total fouls: McLennan 16, Ranger 22; Halftime score: Ranger 48, McLennan 33; Record: McLennan 18-5 (10-4).
