That hangover seemed to carry over into the first half of Wednesday night’s game against Southwestern Christian College, as the Rams consistently beat TC’s less-than-stellar transition defense for easy inside baskets and trailed by only eight points at halftime.
But some halftime urging by Johnson helped the Leopards clear the cobwebs, and J.B. Conley and his teammates stepped on the gas and never looked back.
Conley displayed his offensive versatility to lead a a 26-0 run early in the second half en route to a career-high 40 points, and Temple didn’t allow a field goal for more than 8 minutes on its way to a 135-96 win over the Rams at TC Gym.
LaDon Huckaby scored 20 points, Chris Ellis poured in 19, Ervin Johnson had 18 and Wes Dipprey added 16 as the Leopards - now ranked No. 16 in NJCAA Division I - improved to 18-2 overall and 3-2 in the Northern Texas Junior College Athletic Conference.
“We had a hangover in practice yesterday, but I’ve told the guys that you can learn more from a loss than you can from a win,” said Kirby Johnson, who got 15 assists from sophomore point guard Thomas Anguiano.
Of his halftime speech, Johnson added, “It was not offense that was our problem; it was transition defense. It’s the effort . . . they were beating us down the floor and scoring 4-on-2 and 3-on-1.
“So I made a challenge to them: ‘You need to start to grow up and start playing.’ I thought they responded well.”
The 6-5, 215-pound Conley, a physical freshman from Richardson who has played forward and wing, dominated the Rams (6-7, 0-4) throughout. He scored 19 points in the first half and added 21 in the second, shooting 11-of-16 from the field - including three of TC’s eight 3-pointers - and 9-for-12 on free throws.
“J.B. is becoming an impact player,” Kirby Johnson said. “I was really pleased with how he went to the basket. He’s a strong kid and he can go to the basket.”
Temple seemed to be in control early. Conley’s putback basket that turned into a three-point play put the Leopards up 11-8, and consecutive powerful dunks by Ellis and Conley made it 21-8. Back-to-back inside buckets by Conley off deft passes created a 39-29 lead with 8:15 left, but the Rams began to beat TC defenders down the court and sliced the lead to 41-39.
The scoring of Conley and Ellis helped the Leopards push their advantage back to 62-54 by halftime.
When Jay Parks made a 12-foot jumper 1:23 into the second half, SWCC trailed by only six points.
Little did the Rams know that by the time they scored their next field goal the game would have become a complete blowout.
In between that Parks basket and a Devon Harris inside hoop with 10:22 remaining, the Leopards outscored the Rams 37-4.
Conley produced 14 of TC’s points - featuring a 3, a dunk and three other inside baskets - during the 26-0 spurt that made it 90-58 with 13:17 remaining. Parks made two free throws to end the SWCC scoring drought, but Dipprey scored three times as the Leopards added 11 more points before the Rams made their next basket.
Huckaby’s 3-pointer pushed TC over the 100-point plateau with 10:40 left, and the Leopards added 34 more points to finish the rout.
Temple will host Grayson County (11-10, 4-1) at 4 p.m. Saturday before next Wednesday’s road test against Collin County in Plano.
“We’ve got to beat Grayson and then get a win up at Collin, because we want to finish the first half of conference strong and be 5-2,” Johnson said. “That’s what we’ve talked about.”
