The McLennan Highlanders improved to 7-1 on the season with a 67-61 victory over the Kilgore Rangers.
McLennan began the scoring with an Ari Gooch dunk off the opening tip and added a John McQueen jumper to lead by four early. Kilgore's Kaiden Myers went on a 6-0 run of his own to put the Rangers up by two 6-4. A Gooch free throw followed by an Amare Banks bucket from the lane put the Highlanders up 7-6 with 16:31 to go in the first. Myers banked a shot off the glass to put Kilgore back up by one before McLennan began to pull away. The Highlanders used a 13-2 run over the next five minutes to take the first double-digit lead at 20-10. McLennan pushed the lead to 16 before the Rangers rallied to cut the lead to six at halftime, 40-34.
Both teams slowed offensively to start the second half. The Highlanders led by 14, 54-40 with 12:39 remaining in the game. Kilgore put together a 7-0 run to cut the lead in half. The Rangers continued to chip away a the lead, pulling with two with just under two minutes to go, 63-61. Evan Chatman and Kardae Turner combined to go 4-4 from the free throw line to secure the win.
Ari Gooch led the Highlanders with 14 points, and Evan Chatman scored 11.
Kilgore: Cameroon Woodberry 4 0-0 11; Jonathan Byrd 0 0-2 0; Cahmai Crosby 4 0-0 11; Kaiden Myers 9 5-8 27; Bryson Holmes 0 0-0 0; Chidi Umeh 0 0-0 0; Abdullah Olajuwon 3 2-2 8; Aleksa Lekic 0 0-0 0; Joshua Olutayo 2 0-0 4; Ty Hurndon 0 0-0 0; Savod Godwin 0 0-2 0; Totals: 22 71-14 61.
McLennan: Rontavious Blackshear 2 0-0 6; Joseph Mayberry 0 2-2 2; Kardae Turner 2 4-5 9; Amare Banks 3 1-2 7; Ari Gooch 2 10-12 14; Keegan Rowell 0 0-0 0; Evan Chatman 4 2-3 11; John McQueen 3 0-0 6; Frederick Rogers, III 2 2-4 6; Maximilian Blank 3 0-0 6; Totals: 21 21-28 67.
Halftime score: McLennan 40, Kilgore 34; 3-pointers: Kilgore 10 (Myers 4, Woodberry 3, Crosby 3), McLennan 4 (Blackshear 2, Turner 1, Chatman 1); Total fouls: Kilgore 20, McLennan 13; Fouled out: Kilgore (Crosby, Olutayo); Record: McLennan 7-1.
