BRENHAM, Texas – Blinn College men’s basketball picked up its aggressiveness on offense and it turned into a 106-64 blowout victory over Victoria College Saturday afternoon inside the P.E. Building.
The victory will serve a confidence booster heading into the break as the Buccaneers improve to 8-3 overall and remain at 1-2 in Region XIV play.
Thirteen different players scored for Blinn as James Harrison led the way with 21 but 19 of his 21 were scored in the first half. LaKendric Hyson followed with 13 points, Jaylen Rhone tossed in 12 and Antione Lister finished with 10 points in the win.
As big as the victory was for the Buccaneers, it didn’t start out that way as Victoria shot out to a 10-2 lead. Blinn found some aggressiveness on offense before the half ended to get back into the game.
“At the beginning, I thought that a lack of aggressiveness was our problem,” said Scott Schumacher, Blinn head coach. “When we went on that run at the end of the first half that really put the game away right there.”
Harrison was dominant in the paint, scoring 19 points and guiding the Buccaneers out to a 45-25 lead at the half. Blinn at one point scored 12 straight points to build a big lead. Hyson also chipped in 10 points in the opening half.
The second half was more of the same as the points were really spread around the entire Blinn team. Rhone came off the bench to score 12 points in the second half while Lister added eight points. T.J. Distefano, Tyrus Grayson, Tyler Barlow and Curtlon Wesley each scored six in the second half as the Buccaneers pulled away from visiting Victoria for the 42-point victory.
“I tried to stay within the flow of the offense and was able to find a couple shots,” Distefano said. “I put in a lot of extra work with shooting so when I am open I feel confident to hit the open shots.”
Blinn will get back into action with a home game on Jan. 2 against the Houston Gladiators at 7 p.m.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 34 NJCAA national championships since 1987. For more information, visit www.buccaneersports.com.