Highlanders smash 10th-ranked Collin

The McLennan Highlanders smashed the 10th-ranked Collin Cougars 80-60 tonight to pick up their first conference win of the season.
 
The game was tit-for-tat through the first four and a half minutes of play and was tied at 7 with 15:45 to go. McLennan's Diego Gonzalez drained a 3-pointer from the elbow and followed it with a layup to give the Highlanders the 12-7 less than a minute later. Collin rallied to tie the game at 12 with 12:53 to go. The Cougars led by three, 22-19, with 6:58 remaining in the first half. Justin Wilson went 1-2 from the free throw line and start a 10-0 run that gave McLennan the 29-22 lead with 1:45 to go before the half. Collin's Alex Stoimenov hit a 3-pointer from the elbow to cut the lead to four. Nehemiah Nuckolls and CJ Hall added buckets for McLennan to give the Highlanders the eight-point advantage at the halftime, 33-25.
 
McLennan emerged from the locker room on fire. The Highlanders opened on a 7-0 run with baskets by Wilson, Gonzalez and Hall to extend the lead to 15, 40-25. A 5-0 run for Collin trimmed the lead back to 10, 40-30, with 17:16 to play. McLennan continued to fire on all cylinders and doubled its lead with seven minutes to play, 65-45. Collin wasn't going to back down, using an 7-0 run to cut the lead to 13 with four minutes on the clock but that would be as close as it would get.
 
Hall led the Highlanders with 22 points and Diego Gonzalez added 13.

McLennan 80, Collin 64
Collin: Ben Joelson 3 0-0 6; Robby Williams 2 0-0 5; Willie Wilson Jr. 2 2-2 7; Daylen Minor 1 0-0 2; John Achebe 2 2-2 6; Lav Cvetkovic 3 1-2 8; Isaiah Washington 3 5-5 12; Thai Elder 7 2-3 17; Alex Stoimenov 2 0-0 6; Totals: 23 12-14 64.
 
McLennan: Forte Prater 0 0-0 0; Dillon Gooding 2 0-0 5; CJ Hall 9 0-0 22; Rommell Williams 1 0-0 2; Nehemiah Nuckolls 2 2-2 6; Chris Pryor 3 1-2 8; Diego Gonzalez 6 0-2 13; Cortland Blake 2 4-4 9; Kirk Smith Jr. 3 2-2 8; Javani Brown 1 0-0 2; Justin Wilson 1 3-4 5; Totals: 30 12-19 80.
 
3-pointers: Collin 6 (Stoimenov 2, Williams 1, Cvetkovic 1, Washington 1, Elder 1), McLennan 8 (Hall 4, Pryor 1, Gooding 1 Gonzalez 1, Blake 1); Total fouls: Collin 16, McLennan 14; Record: McLennan 14-3 (1-1).