The No. 25 McLennan Highlanders fell to the Navarro Bulldogs 71-59 in a hard-fought battle at The Highlands.
The first half appeared much like a 3-point contest as the two teams combined for 15 in the period, Navarro with 10 and McLennan with five. The Bulldogs controlled the tempo early, building an eight-point lead at 11-3 with 16:03 on the clock. The Highlanders cut the lead to six but Navarro pulled away, pushing the lead to 12 at 28-16 with 7:31 to go in the first half. McLennan rallied, cutting the lead back to six but the Bulldogs would lead by eight at the break, 43-35.
Forte Prater drained a 3-pointer for the Highlanders to open the second-half scoring and cut the Navarro lead to five. The Bulldogs responded with an 8-0 run over the next three minutes to push the lead back to 13. McLennan didn't back down and chipped away at the lead, pulling within four, 56-52, with 6:28 to play. That would prove to be as close as the Highlanders could get. The Bulldogs used another run, this time of the 9-0 fashion, to secure the win.
Dillon Gooding led the Highlanders with 15 points. Forte Prater and Chris Pryor scored 11 points each. Nehemiah Nuckolls added 10.
The Highlanders travel to Brenham Saturday to face the Blinn Buccaneers at 7 p.m.
Navarro: Colin Schaefer 2 2-2 7; Jaylen Harrison 3 0-0 9; Tre'Von Love 0 0-0 0; Addarin Scott 3 0-0 8; Sabry Philip 5 2-3 14; Atonee Abraham 3 0-0 8; Babacar Diallo 2 2-2 8; Terrance Thompson 2 3-4 8; Collins Onyeike 0 0-0 0; Justin Thomas 2 4-6 9; Totals: 22 13-17 71.
McLennan: Forte Prater 4 0-0 11; Dillon Gooding 5 2-2 15; CJ Hall 1 0-0 3; Rommell Williams 0 0-0 0; Anthony Simmons 0 0-0 0; Jayce Wright 0 0-0 0; Nehemiah Nuckolls 4 2-4 10; Chris Pryor 4 2-2 11; Diego Gonzalez 1 1-2 4; Khalif Allim 0 1-2 1; Cortland Blake 0 0-0 0; Kirk Smith Jr. 2 0-0 4; Javani Brown 0 0-0 0; Justin Wilson 0 0-2 0; Totals: 21 8-14 59.
3-pointers: Navarro 14 (Harrison 3, Scott 2, Philip 2, Abraham 2, Diallo 2, Schaefer 1, Thomas 1, Thompson 1), McLennan 9 (Prater 3, Gooding 3, Hall 1, Pryor 1, Gonzalez 1); Total fouls: Navarro 16; McLennan 17; Halftime score: 43-35; Record: McLennan 9-1.
