It was a wild and crazy high-scoring affair between the Vikings and the Highlanders in the men's game with the 17th-ranked McLennan Highlanders falling 131-120 on the road.
Grayson controlled the tempo from the opening tip. Latrell Williams began the scoring with an old-fashioned three-point play to put the Vikings up early. McLennan responded with a bucket and one from Diego Gonzalez to tie the game at three. The Highlanders trailed by one, 8-7, with 17 minutes to go in the first half. Grayson began to pull away, taking its first double-digit lead at 23-13 with 13:30 to go. The Vikings continued to push down the stretch and led 71-49 at intermission.
McLennan wasn't going down without a fight. Behind strong shooting from Maurice Harvey, Rayquan Brown and Isaiah Placide the Highlanders rallied from a 22-point halftime deficit to cut the lead to six 120-114 with 1:39 remaining in the game. That would be as close as McLennan could get as Grayson pulled away down the stretch.
Rayquan Brown led the Highlanders with 39 points. Maurice Harvey and Isaiah Placide scored 21 and 18, respectively. Chris Pryor and Kirk Smith Jr. added 11 points each.
McLennan: Dillon Gooding 2 0-0 4; Amani Harris 0 0-0 0; Maurice Harvey 9 3-5 21; Nehemiah Nuckolls 2 2-2- 6; Chris Pryor 2 6-6 11; Rayquan Brown 18 3-4 39; Diego Gonzalez 2 2-5 7; Isaiah Placide 6 3-3 18; Asare Otchere 1 1-2 3; Kirk Smith Jr. 5 1-1 11; Totals: 47 21-28 120.
Grayson: DJ Thomas 13 2-2 31; Tyrone Williams 12 8-13 35; Samier Kinsler 1 0-0 3; Girardi Cubillan 0 0-0 0; Reginal Price 0 0-0 0; Tayton Conerway 6 0-0 15; Cheikh Deng 0 0-0 0; Dorian Benford 4 2-3 11; Aaron Johnson-Cash 5 1-1 14; Aseem Luckey 2 0-0 4; Latrell Williams 8 1-1 18; Totals: 51 14-20 131.
3-pointers: McLennan 5 (Placide 3, Gonzalez 1, Pryor 1), Grayson 15 (Thomas 3, T. Williams 3, Conerway 3, Johnson-Cash 3, L. Williams 1, Kinsler 1); Total fouls: McLennan 17, Grayson 22; Fouled out: McLennan (Gooding); Halftime score: Grayson 71, McLennan 49; Record: McLennan 10-2 (4-2)
