RANGERS TO SEMIFINALS, TOO | Knocked off Blinn; Lady Rangers play at 3 p.m. Friday, men at 6 p.m.
By SHAWN CHRISTOPHER
TYLER – Tyler Junior College’s Floyd Wagstaff Gymnasium is quickly becoming a home away from home for the Kilgore College Rangers.
In fact, the Lady Rangers aren’t doing too badly here, either.
Coach Robert Byrd’s Kilgore College Rangers won their second Region XIV Men’s Basketball Tournament game, beating fourth-seeded Blinn – led by former KC head coach Scott Schumacher – by a score of 65-53 Thursday afternoon, earning a spot in Friday’s conference semifinals.
The Rangers are now 24-8 on the season, but that hardly matters at this point. All that really matters is the very next game – and the fact that they’re 2-0 in this tournament, because if you don’t win here, then there is no tomorrow. There’s only home, because your season is over.
KC will face No. 1-seeded Lee College in Friday’s first men’s semifinal at 6 p.m. Lee College beat Paris, 78-56, in the first game of the day on Thursday. More on that in a moment.
The first two games of the day on Friday will be women’s semifinals. Women’s No. 1 seed Angelina will take on Blinn at 1 p.m., and then the Kilgore College Lady Rangers, seeded third, will take on No. 2 seed Trinity Valley at 3 p.m. The two winners will meet Saturday in the women’s conference championship game, a 4 p.m. tipoff.
Here’s our story of how the Lady Rangers beat Panola College on Wednesday night to reach Friday’s semifinals: LADY RANGERS TO SEMIS | They crushed Panola; KC men face Blinn today at 3 p.m. at TJC (etblitz.com).
As for the Rangers, they had to overcome a Blinn team on Thursday that beat them by 18 points in Brenham back on Dec. 2.
But they did it.
Neither team was great in long-distance shooting. The Rangers went 5-of-26 from three-point range and Blinn only took nine shots, hitting only two of them.
Blinn only had two players score in double figures: Anthony Isaac comfortably, with 19 points and also six rebounds. But Jadin Johnson scored 10 points, and didn’t go over the double-figure mark until the game’s final moments.
Only one other player, Patrick Neal, even came close: Neal had seven points and four rebounds.
The Rangers’ bench didn’t light it up: only three points from Jamir Turner. But four of KC’s five starters hit double-digits, with Willie Williams getting another double-double: 20 points and 13 rebounds (Williams was the Rangers’ rebounds leader in the regular season, as well). He also had two assists and a blocked shot.
Cahmai Crosby had 15 points for KC, to go with three rebounds and nine assists. Jamil Muttilib and Peter Mckey each had 12 points – Muttilib had nine rebounds, two assists and two steals, and Mckey had a rebound, two assists and a steal.
Kaleb Pouncy joined Turner with three points, and Pouncy also had six rebounds and an assist.
Counting the regular season, KC’s men’s and women’s basketball teams are a combined 4-1 at Wagstaff Gymnasium this season.
By the way, the prize for winning the Region XIV Conference Championships: a trip to the NJCAA Men’s / Women’s National Tournaments.
For anyone who’d like to see all-encompassing information on the tournament, check out the tournament’s very-good website here: NJCAA Region XIV Basketball Tournament 2024 – Region 14 Athletics. That also has ticket information.
And for anyone who can’t make it to the tournament but would like to watch online, it’s being streamed live on the TJC Athletics channel on YouTube here: TJCApacheAthletics – YouTube.