The McLennan Highlanders trampled the Temple Leopards 83-60.
It was all McLennan at the start. Back-to-back 3-pointers from Chris Pryor and Dillon Gooding opened the game and ignited a 18-6 run that put the Highlanders up by 12 with 15 minutes to go in the first half. Temple found a rhythm and few wide-open shots from the 3-point line to rally and tie the game at 24 with 8:34 to play. The Leopards took their first lead of the game on a Justin Collins 3-pointer with 7:21 to go, 27-24. A bucket in the lane from Justin Wilson put the Highlanders back on top and McLennan added a dunk from Forte Prater and 3-pointer from Gooding to push the lead to six, 33-27. Temple trimmed the lead back to one with one minute remaining in the half but a Pryor floater in the lane with 18 seconds to go gave McLennan the 37-34 advantage at intermission.
McLennan led by five, 41-46 with 13:51 to go in the game. Diego Gonzalez fought for hard bucket in the lane to start an 11-0 run to give the Highlanders a little bit of cushion, 62-46 with just over 11 minutes to play. Temple rallied again, cutting the lead to nine, 66-57 with 8:11 on the clock. That would proved to be as close as the Leopards could get. McLennan ended the game on a 17-4 run to secure the win.
Chris Pryor and Nehemiah Nuckolls both recorded double-doubles for McLennan. Pryor had 20 points and 10 assists while Nuckolls score 11 and pulled down 15 rebounds. CJ Hall scored 17 points and Dillon Gooding added 16.
Temple: Quenton Coleman 1 1-2 3; Louis Norton0 0-0 0; Kino Thompson 2 1-2 5; Dylan Magloire 0 0-0 0; Justin Collins 3 0-0 8; Jaedaun Slack 8 1-2 23; D'Angelo Elliott 0 0-0 0; Sherrod Whitley 3 0-0 7; Jordan Okonji 2 1-2 5; Alex Gager 1 1-1 3; Maison Adeleye 3 0-0 6; Totals: 23 5-9 60.
McLennan: Forte Prater 2 0-0 4; Dillon Gooding 5 2-2 16; CJ Hall 6 1-1 17; Anthony Simmons 0 0-0 0; Jayce Wright 1 0-0 2; Nehemiah Nuckolls 5 1-1 11; Chris Pryor 7 3-3 20; Diego Gonzalez 1 2-3 4; Cortland Blake 1 0-0 2; Kirk Smith Jr. 0 0-0 0; Javani Brown 0 0-0 0; Justin Wilson 3 1-2 7; Totals: 31 10-12 83.
3-pointers: Temple 9 (Slack 6, Collins 2, Whitley 1); McLennan 11 (Gooding 4, Hall 4, Pryor 3); Total fouls: Temple 18, McLennan 9; Halftime: McLennan 37, Temple 34; Record: McLennan 23-3 (10-1).
