BRENHAM, Texas – Blinn College knew it had a size advantage over Houston Community College-Southwest and that advantage was used to perfection. The Buccaneers went to the paint early and often and that game plan helped Blinn walk away with a 107-64 victory Nov. 3 in Brenham.
Ja’Cardo Hawkins did a lot of the damage down low for Blinn by scoring 19 points but it was a balanced scoring effort for the Buccaneers. Five different players scored in double digits for Blinn and 12 players in all scored for the home team in their easy victory.
“I thought that in the first half that we did a good job of throwing the ball into the post,” said Blinn head coach Scott Schumacher. “And in the second half I thought our guards were able to take it off the dribble and our talent level took over near the end of the game.”
Morris Dunnigan finished with 14 points while Lionheart Leslie had 12 and Jalan McCloud and Rick Curry each chipped in with 11 points.
Blinn came out aggressive in the opening minutes as Cody Everitt scored four early points to guide the Buccaneers to a 10-3 lead.
“I thought we did a good job of moving the ball and hitting the post when we were supposed to,” Everitt said. “We have plenty of size and we would kick it in to them and if they had nothing then they would kick it out to the shooters.”
Southwest would hang around with Blinn early in the first half as the playground-style offense of the visitors helped to free up space on the perimeter. Rechard Jackson scored 11 points in the first half for Southwest and his 3-pointer with 11:45 left kept the Eagles within 20-16.
“I thought defensively that we didn’t put a lot of pressure on the ball and that allowed them to shoot a little in the first half,” Schumacher said.
Working their low-post game to free open space for other shooters, Blinn was able to keep control of the game. After Anthony Bowie made a driving layup for Southwest to cut the Blinn lead down to 42-32 it was all Buccaneers after that in the half.
“We did a good job working the post and working inside-out because that is our deal,” Schumacher said.
A 3-point play by Curry, who had nine points in the half, helped to spark 12 consecutive points that broke the game wide open. Dunnigan hit a 3-pointer in that stretch and added five points to guide Blinn to a commanding 54-32 lead at the half.
Blinn could have went into coast mode but instead they came out more aggressive on offense as their guards were able to penetrate the Southwest defense with more frequency in the final 20 minutes. Hawkins was a beast in the paint for Blinn as he drew a foul and sank two free throws to start a streak of 10 straight points to guide Blinn to a 75-44 lead with 12:52 left in the game. Hawkins led Blinn with 11 points in the second half to help his team pull away.
The lead got as high as 44 points for Blinn near the end as every Buccaneer was able to get time on the floor an break a sweat in the home-opener.
“I thought the crowd was great tonight and they know when to get fired up,” Schumacher said.
Blinn will again be at home when it hosts Lone Star College-Tomball on Nov. 6 at 7:30 p.m.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 29 NJCAA national championships since 1987. For more information, visit www.buccaneersports.com.
