Meanwhile, the grind-it-out Grayson County College Vikings want to play in the 50s or 60s.
Saturday afternoon’s men’s basketball game at TC Gym was played at Grayson’s preferred pace, but when it was over NJCAA No. 16-ranked Temple could accept scoring in the high 60s to the Vikings’ low 60s.
Chris Ellis scored 17 points, LaDon Huckaby had 16 and the Leopards overcame both their 8-minute field-goal drought and a barrage of eight 3-point baskets by Rico Wilkins in the second half to earn a 67-61 victory and tie the Vikings for second place in the Northern Texas Junior College Athletic Conference.
“Our guys hung in there and Grayson’s a hard team to beat, so this is a huge win for us,” said Temple coach Kirby Johnson, whose squad moved to 19-2 overall and 4-2 in the NTJCAC with one game left in the first half.
“I told the guys before the game that this was our biggest game of the year so far, because it was against a team that was ahead of us and it was at home.”
Point guard Thomas Anguiano contributed nine steals and five assists for TC, and freshman forward Wes Dipprey had a solid game with nine points and a team-high six rebounds. Ervin Johnson also scored nine.
Grayson (11-11) fell to 4-2 in the league despite the uncanny shooting of Wilkins, a 5-11 freshman guard.
He scored only three points before halftime as the Vikings trailed 32-23, but he buried five 3-pointers to propel Grayson to a 46-45 lead with 9:14 left, then sank three 3s in the final 1:41 to slice a 12-point lead to five before the Vikings ran out of time.
“I don’t know why some guys shoot like that against us,” Kirby Johnson said, noting Wilkins entered as a 33.3-percent 3-point shooter before going 9-for-20 (45 percent) at TC. “It’s not our defense. That one guy kept hitting 3s, and that’s why there’s no lead that’s safe.”
Ellis led the Leopard offense early for leads of 8-2 and 15-10 before Grayson rallied for a 15-15 tie. But Dipprey’s two-handed dunk off a steal made it 17-15 and TC led the rest of the first half, using two Ellis baskets and one each from Huckaby, Sean Jones, Dipprey and Ervin Johnson to produce a 32-23 halftime advantage.
Wilkins scored eight points in the second half’s first 4 minutes, but TC still owned a 40-33 lead on Huckaby’s 3 at the 15:29 mark.
However, the Vikings then turned up their intensity and execution on both ends and didn’t allow the Leopards to score another field goal for the next 8 minutes.
That was the stretch during which Wilkins became torrid from beyond the arc, drilling a 3 from the left wing, one from the left corner and then a 27-footer from the left wing before Justice Null’s back-to-back inside baskets gave Grayson a 46-45 edge - its first lead of the game - with 9:14 remaining.
But just as stunning as that Viking blitzkrieg was what happened next - a complete turnaround for Temple.
Dipprey made two free throws to give the Leopards the lead for good with 8:49 left, then Anguiano turned a steal at midcourt into a layup before making another steal and feeding Johnson for a powerful slam and a 51-46 lead at the 6:51 mark.
That was followed by an Ellis runner in the lane, a Johnson score inside and Huckaby’s 3 from the top to push it to 60-48 at 2:28.
“I thought our defense made the difference in that run,” Kirby Johnson said, “and LaDon hit the big 3.”
But the Vikings - Wilkins in particular - weren’t done.
Wilkins made three more 3s, the last of which cut Grayson’s deficit to 66-61 with 12.2 seconds left, but free throws by Johnson and Anguiano and one final miss by Wilkins sealed the Leopards’ victory.
Temple next will battle perennial NTJCAC contender Collin County (15-6, 3-2) on Wednesday night in Plano, with the Leopards trying to grab their first conference road win after losses to first-place Weatherford and McLennan.
“We’re 4-0 at home in the first round, but if we’re going to win the conference we’ve got to win some road games,” Kirby Johnson said. “Collin is a big game for us.”
gwille@temple-telegram.com
