BLINN MEN RALLY FOR 73-64 WIN OVER PARIS

Saturday's Region XIV men's basketball tilt between Blinn College and Paris Junior College transformed into a game of lost and found. 

The Buccaneers appeared to misplace their offense early, only to discover it late in the first half before riding that momentum to a 73-64 come-from-behind victory over the Dragons at the Kruse Center in Brenham, Texas.

"Any time you can beat a Bill Foy-coached basketball team it's a good win," Blinn head coach Scott Schumacher said of the Dragons and their legendary head coach. "I thought our guys came out and did some things that we normally don't do, but they hung tough, played hard and played together, shared the basketball, and pulled it out. It was a great win for us."

Paris raced out to a 10-0 lead to open the game and used six 3-pointers to seize a 35-19 advantage with 4:26 to go in the first half.

From there, however, the visitors appeared to lose track of their offense as Blinn (7-4, 2-0 Region XIV) reeled off a 15-3 run to trail just 38-34 at the intermission.

Sophomore guard Maurice Pinnock's layup ignited the rally, sophomore guard Marco Foster hit a 3, and a putback from sophomore guard Damian Watson gave Blinn seven straight points. Foster hit another trey seconds later and sophomore guard Elijah Elliott pulled-up for a jumper and was fouled as he sank the bucket. His free throw had Blinn within 38-32 with 1:50 to go. Two more free throws from Elliott closed out the first-half scoring.

"At the beginning of the game I think we were just getting a feel for how Paris was playing, and we were trying out a new zone defense," said Elliott, who paced Blinn with 18 points. "We amped up our defense which allowed us to get some easy transition buckets, and then we started to figure out how they were guarding us, and our offense started flowing and clicking."

After Paris went ahead 40-34 in the opening moments of the second half, the Bucs powered up for a 20-2 run that pushed the game permanently in the Bucs' favor.

Sophomore forward Alex Tsynkevich delivered the game's first tie at 40-all when he scored six consecutive points on a pair of layups and a putback with 16:55 remaining.

"We stuck together, and our sophomores showed their leadership ability," Tsynkevich said. "We also stuck to what we do best: Finding good shots and scoring inside. That's what got us back into the game."

Following Tsynkevich's game-tying bucket, freshman forward Jamine Charles scored on a hook 45 seconds later to give the Bucs their first lead at 42-40. Watson then scored on a layup as he was fouled and hit the subsequent free throw, and Elliott secured a steal and turned it into a layup as Blinn suddenly led 47-40.

Freshman guard Masiah Gilyard and Elliot sandwiched layups around a 3 from Foster as the Bucs surged to a 54-42 advantage.

Paris battled back to pull within 58-54 with 8:22 left, but sophomore guard Bakari LaStrap drilled a 3 off an assist from Elliott to kickstart a 12-0 burst for the Bucs that put the game out of reach.

Following Elliott with double-digit scoring efforts were Foster and Watson, who finished with 12 and 11 points, respectively. Tsynkevich and Charles had eight points apiece.

"We started moving the ball better in the second half which got us better shots," Schumacher explained. "Paris is very good defensively, so if you don't move the ball around, you're not going to have an opportunity. Once our guys moved the ball well, it gave us an opportunity to score, and we hit those shots."

Blinn visits Bossier-Parish Junior College for a region bout at 7 p.m. on Wednesday in Bossier City, Louisiana.

Story by Joe Alberico, Blinn College Sports Information