BUCCANEERS BATTLE BACK TO TOP KILGORE ON THE ROAD

Blinn College trailed by double digits in the first half but hung around

KILGORE, Texas – The Blinn College men’s basketball team learn a valuable lesson of hanging around in a basketball game. Instead of getting blown early on, the Buccaneers hung around long enough to eventually take over the lead and grab a 66-63 win Jan. 3 against Kilgore College.

Blinn dug itself a double-digit deficit in the first half but did just enough to keep Kilgore within striking distance. The comeback was completed late in the second half when Morris Dunnigan hit a 3 to give the Buccaneers a 60-59 lead with just over four minutes left.

Clinging to a 64-63 lead with two seconds on the shot clock and 27 seconds in the game, Jalan McCloud was able to receive the inbounds pass and nail a jumper near the baseline to give the Buccaneers a 66-63 lead.

Kilgore had a look at a 3-pointer to tie the game in the final seconds but missed, giving Blinn its fourth conference victory and a glossy 12-2 record on the season.

Ja’Cardo Hawkins was able to find a little space in the paint to score 14 points while Dunnigan also reached 14 points to lead the Buccaneers. Vicktor Arnick hit a couple of big 3-pointers in the contest and totaled 12 points in the road victory.

“I was proud of our guys,” said Blinn head coach Scott Schumacher. “We were able to get some buckets in the paint and that helped to get open shots on the outside.”

Kilgore used a very patient offense to use a lot of the shot clock on each possession and it worked early on against Blinn but the Buccaneers did enough to keep it close.

“At any point, Kilgore could have blown us out early but we keep hanging around,” Schumacher said.

Blinn will be back home Jan. 7 when it hosts Tyler Junior College at 7 p.m.

-Story Courtesy of

Jake Gordon, Blinn Communications & Sports Information Specialist