ATHENS, Texas – Blinn College men’s basketball had a hard time holding onto the basketball to begin the second half and Trinity Valley extended its lead and held on for an 83-71 victory Nov. 25 in Athens, Texas.

The Buccaneers suffered their first loss in conference but only trailed by three points at the half. Blinn went on a scoring drought in the first few minutes of the second half that proved costly.

Morris Dunnigan stepped up for Blinn and scored 17 points while Revey Norton and Lionheart Leslie each scored 14 points in the loss.

Affordable-Community-Marketing-01“Morris (Dunnigan) made some outside shots and played well,” said Blinn head coach Scott Schumacher. “What hurt us the most was not scoring for the first four or five minutes of the second half because they trapped and we didn’t handle it very well.”

Blinn did recover from their slow start after halftime and made the game close, getting within eight points down the stretch. Trinity Valley was able to slow down the offense though and kill a lot of clock on each possession to make it difficult for the Buccaneers to come back.

The loss is just the second on the season for Blinn College and their first inside the conference and moves their record to 1-1 in conference. The Buccaneers will next face Lone Star College – Cy-Fair on Nov. 29 in Brenham 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.