The victory pushed the Buccaneers to 17-7 overall and 10-3 in the Region XIV South Zone, where they sit tied for second place with Coastal Bend College. Blinn owns the tiebreaker over Coastal Bend thanks to a win against the Cougars on Jan. 14.
“Any road win or any conference win is a great win,” Buccaneers head coach Scott Schumacher said. “The guys played well and kept playing hard into the second half, which is what really helped us win the game.”
A low-scoring first half ended with Blinn ahead just 26-25, but the visitors’ fortunes changed early in the second.
The Bucs began the half on a 14-0 run that started with a jump shot from sophomore guard Elijah Elliott. The game-changing move ended on an Elliott steal and assist that resulted in a 3-pointer from sophomore guard Marco Foster and a 40-25 lead with 17:56 to go.
“I thought it was a physical battle in the first half with both teams really getting after it,” said Schumacher. “Then in that second half we got going quickly and grabbed that double-digit lead, and the guys held on.”
Foster scored a team-high 19 points to go with six rebounds. Sophomore guard Damian Watson had 16 points, Elliott had 14 points and six rebounds, freshman guard Masiah Gilyard had 13 points, and sophomore forward Alex Tsynkevich finished with nine points and five boards.
The Buccaneers get back to work when they host Victoria College for a region bout at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 8, at the Kruse Center in Brenham, Texas.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 42 NJCAA national championships since 1987.
