The McLennan Highlanders held off the Temple Leopards for an 83-72 victory to stay undefeated in conference play heading into Saturday's regular-season finale.
The first part of the game was back-and-forth with the Leopards and Highlanders being tied at nine with 15:33 to go in the half. McLennan began to pull away with a 7-0 run started by an Aiden Law 3-pointer from the corner, 16-9. A Joel Brown bucket briefing slowed the Highlander progress but the squad responded with a 6-0 run including four points from Howard Gaskins Jr. to take the first double-digit lead at 22-11 with 9:51 to go. Temple trimmed the lead to two just two minutes later but McLennan continued to push and led 45-33 at the break.
Temple put up a fight to start the second half behind strong shooting from Josh Telfort. The Leopards pulled within seven at 47-70. The Highlanders pulled away with an 11-2 run over the next six minutes to go up by 16 at 58-42. Temple wouldn't go away and once again cut the lead to seven multiple times down the stretch. Each time the Highlanders responded with post shots by Maximilian Blank to hold off the Leopard charge. McLennan led 71-62 with 4:40 to play. Temple's Ovie Agbigbe drained a 3-pointer but the Highlanders continued to fight, pushing the lead to nine at 76-67 on an Amare Banks 3-pointer from the top of the key with three minutes to play. Temple wasn't able to recover after that.
Maximilian Blank led the Highlanders with 21 points. Aiden Law and Howard Gaskins Jr. scored 14 points each, and Amare Banks added 10.
McLennan: Julian Cuillier 0 0-0 0; Aiden Law 4 36-4 14; Joseph Mayberry III 2 0-0 4; Kardae Turner 2 2-2 6; Amare Banks 4 0-0 10; Katayvon Jefferies 0 0-0 0; Austin Omondi 0 0-0 0; Avion Jackson 1 0-0 2; Timi Ibikunle 3 2-2 8; Howard Gaskins Jr. 6 2-4 14; Joe Burgess 2 0-2 4; Maximilian Blank 11 1-1 21; Totals: 35 10-15 83.
Temple: Jason Ward 2 0-0 6; Byron Piper 2 0-0 6; Tayshaun Goston 1 2-2 4; Jonty Kells 1 0-0 2; Ovie Agbigbe 1 0-0 3; Jaymes Brown-Peterson 3 0-0 6; Joel Brown 3 2-2 9; Roy Gardner 4 1-1 11; Joseph Lloyd 0 0-0 0; Harry Bates 3 0-0 10; Josh Telfort 4 4-7 13; Isaac Green 1 0-0 2; Totals: 25 9-12 72.
Halftime score: McLennan 45, Temple 33; 3-pointers: McLennan5 (Law 3, Banks 2), Temple 11 (Ward 2, Piper 2, Gardner 2, Bates 2, Agbigbe 1, Brown 1, Telfort 1); Fouled out: Gardner (Temple); Record: McLennan 28-1 (13-0).
