The McLennan Highlanders returned from the week-long Thanksgiving break with an 82-63 victory over the North Lake Blazers tonight at The Highlands.
It was a sluggish start offensively for both squads. Omarion Smith began the scoring with a baseline jumper for the Highlanders two minutes into the contest. North Lake found its first bucket a minute and a half later to tie the game at two. A Mason Lockhart tip-in put McLennan on top 4-2 and started a 12-2 run that gave the Highlanders the first double-digit lead at 14-4. McLennan continued to push, extending the lead to 18 at 26-8 with 6:30 to play in the first half. The Blazers made a comeback late in the half and pulled within 1 with 4:22 to go, 28-17. The Highlanders responded with a 6-0 run to extend the lead back to 17 and held the 36-23 advantage at the half.
The ball seemed to be bouncing the Blazers way early in the second half as North Lake cut the lead to 10, 39-29, with 16:12 remaining in the game. Back-to-back 3-pointers from Nick Shogbonyo and Jaylen Thompson gave McLennan the momentum. The Highlanders extended the lead once again, leading by 17 at 50-33 with 12:41 to play. The Blazers battled midway through the half, cutting the lead to eight at 55-47 with just under nine minutes to go. That would prove to be as close as it would get as the Highlanders continued to pour in the points down the stretch leading by as many as 25 down the stretch.
CJ Hall led McLennan with 17 points and Cedric Kelley added 16. Jaylen Thompson scored 13 points and Omarion Smith recorded a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
North Lake Blazers: Jakob Zenon 3 2-2 11; Jesse Peart 0 0-0 0; Darion Jones 3 2-2 8; Randy Woolf 1 3-3 5; Brandon Lawrence 5 7-8 19; Ring Deng 1 0-1 2; Da'Ryan Williams 3 6-7 12; DeKyre Fuller 1 0-1 2; Ryan Pondant 1 2-2 4; Totals: 18 22-26 63.
McLennan: Nick Shogbonyo 2 4-4 9; CJ Hall 5 3-4 17; Jacobi Lewis 0 0-0 0; Dayvaughn Froe 2 0-0 5; Jaylen Thompson 5 1-1 13; A.J. Barnes 1 0-0 2; Jared Clawson 1 2-2 4; Jahmar Brown 0 0-0 0; Omarion Smith 5 1-2 11; Mason Lockhart 2 1-2 5; Kaleb Pouncy 0 0-0 0; Cedric Kelley 7 2-2 16; Khalif Allim 0 0-0 0; Totals: 30 14-17 82.
3-pointers: North Lake 5 (Zenon 3, Lawrence 2), McLennan 8 (Hall 4, Thompson 2, Shogbonyo 1, Froe 1; Total fouls: North Lake 18, McLennan 18; Halftime score: McLennan 36, North Lake 23; Record: McLennan 8-3.
