In 2003, Howard beat TC 86-78 in the first round of the NJCAA Region V Tournament in Richardson.
In a regional semifinal two years later in Lubbock, the Hawks rallied from a late 11-point deficit to hand the third-ranked Leopards their first loss in 32 games, 78-76.
And a year ago in the regional’s first round in Belton, Howard had runs of 19-3 and 25-7 and held off top-seeded Temple’s charge to top the Leopards 81-72.
Tonight, TC takes another shot at defeating its recent nemesis when the 27-3 Leopards battle Howard’s Hawks (23-7) at 7 in a Region V Tournament first-round game at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor’s Mayborn Campus Center.
“Man, I need another chance against those guys,” said TC sophomore point guard Thomas Anguiano, one of only two current Leopards who were in uniform against Howard a year ago. “We’ve got to play hard and win the 1-on-1 battles.”
Temple 21st-year coach Kirby Johnson, seeking his first berth in the NJCAA Division I National Tournament, says his team is embracing another showdown with Howard.
“Our guys are excited about it,” said Johnson, who has TC in the Region V Tournament for the ninth consecutive year. “We always seem to play Howard and we’d like some revenge.”
The four-day, 16-team regional - matching the top teams from TC’s Northern Texas Junior College Athletic Conference and Howard’s Western Junior College Athletic Conference - begins today with four men’s quarterfinal games.
Reigning national champion and WJCAC co-champ Midland and Collin County get it started at 12:30 p.m., followed by NTJCAC champ Weatherford against South Plains at 2:30, WJCAC co-champ Odessa against McLennan at 5 and the TC-Howard duel at 7.
The women’s quarterfinals - including Temple against Midland at 5 p.m. - are set for Friday, all four semifinal games are on Saturday, and the two championship games are on Sunday afternoon.
Region V will send only its men’s and women’s champions to the national tournaments in Kansas.
One year ago, Temple’s men seemed to have everything set up perfectly.
The Leopards tied for the NTJCAC title and earned the No. 1 seed, and they got to play the final first-round game of the night at UMHB - only about 10 miles from TC’s campus. The Mayborn Campus Center crowd was large, loud and almost completely behind Temple.
Unfortunately for the Leopards, Howard paid neither its No. 4 seed nor the assembled fans any heed.
Playing with tremendous intensity at both ends of the floor, especially on defense, the Hawks closed the first half on a 19-3 run for a 38-24 lead. Temple recovered briefly, but then Howard compiled a 25-7 spurt to go up 69-44 and staved off a furious Leopard rally in the final minutes to win by nine.
Anguiano hopes that TC has learned from that defeat, even though he and Ervin Johnson are the lone current Leopards from that squad.
“I think we took the home crowd for granted and we did stuff differently than we had been doing,” said Anguiano, who led the NTJCAC in steals at 4.7 per game. “We played good defense, but we let them get away from us and late in the game we ran out of gas.
“It’s all about execution. You have to take the shots that are there for you.”
Whereas last season’s Howard squad was paced by tall, strong players inside, this year’s Hawks have a pair of stellar guards in sophomores and New York City products Sean Watson and Corey Allmond.
The 6-5 Watson averages 22.1 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, while the 6-1 Allmond (17.9 ppg) has made 98 3-point shots on 46-percent accuracy.
But with freshmen LaDon Huckaby (6-7) and Chris Ellis (6-5) at the wing spots, TC’s perimeter defense has much more length this year.
“Howard is a lot more guard-oriented this year and they’re the No. 1 scoring team out there (the WJCAC), so that’s more advantageous to our style,” said Kirby Johnson, whose team scored 94.6 points per NTJCAC game. “They play really good man-to-man defense and get up on you.
“We assume they won’t change much. We will look at how they broke our press (defense last year). But in junior college, every year is such a new year.”
Although Temple has been a perennial qualifier for the Region V Tournament, the Leopards have gotten past the first round only twice in their last eight trips.
This team believes it has the talent and confidence to advance. Of course, all Temple has to do is find a way to finally beat Howard.
“We have the best chance to win,” Ellis said. “We have the mentality to win.”
Added freshman forward Wes Dipprey: “It’s all about who wants it more.”
gwille@temple-telegram.com
