Temple led by nine points early in the second half, but DeAndre Brown went off for a game-high 45 points and fellow guard Darian Thibodeaux scored 22 as Navarro consistently took advantage of the Leopards’ mistakes to seize a hotly contested victory at TC Gym.
Sophomore Brown made five of Navarro’s 12 3-point baskets and freshman Thibodeaux nailed six in helping the Bulldogs (3-0) outscore the Leopards (2-1) 50-31 in the final 17½ minutes, dealing TC a rare home defeat.
Freshman point guard Allyn Cooks led Temple with 26 points and sophomore wing J.B. Conley had 17, but Chris Ellis, TC’s other starting wing, was limited to four points.
The Leopards, who got 13 points from Russ Permenter and 10 from Jordan Brown, added to their problems by making only six 3-pointers and missing 13 free throws.
“You’ve got to give them credit,” Temple coach Kirby Johnson said of Navarro, which lost the last two NJCAA Region XIV finals by a total of three points. “We turned the ball over at critical points, and they turned those into quick points. What compounded that is when they were hitting 3s, we were missing free throws.
“And you have to give No. 11 (Brown) credit - he had 45 points. We couldn’t stop him.”
Navarro coach Johnny Estelle, in his first season at the helm after eight as an assistant, was pleased with the Bulldogs’ resilient, aggressive play following their nine-point deficit early in the second half.
“It was just a great group effort tonight, and we have a team-first attitude,” Estelle said, adding of Brown and Thibodeaux: “They’re great kids and they work hard.”
The bulk of the first half couldn’t have been much closer, with the teams trading small leads in a physical, intense duel. TC’s overall quickness matched Navarro’s burly inside players and hot outside shooters.
With the game tied 42-42 five minutes before halftime, the Leopards put together a 16-9 burst to lead 58-51 at the half.
Ellis made a 3 for his lone basket, and hoops by Rayland Robinson, Conley and Davon Morrison put TC up 51-47. Consecutive Brown baskets cut Navarro’s deficit to 52-51, but Cooks drilled a 3 from the top with 22 seconds left and then was fouled while shooting a desperation 45-footer with half a second remaining - a call that had Estelle and the Bulldogs’ players irate. Cooks sank all three free throws to put the Leopards up by seven.
Brown began the second half with back-to-back layups off steals, but baskets by Cooks, Conley and Permenter pushed Temple’s lead back to 64-55 with 16:45 remaining.
That’s when Brown completely took over the game, driving hard for a pair of hoops and hitting two 3-pointers for a 10-0 run that had the Bulldogs back on top at 65-64.
Temple briefly regained the lead at 68-65 on a Cooks dunk and a Conley tip-in, but Thibodeaux came right back with a tying 3 and Keithtrick Denson’s inside score gave Navarro the lead for good at 70-68 with 13:08 remaining.
Temple kept it close and trailed 79-76 after a Cooks layin at the 9:48 mark, but the Leopards didn’t make another field goal until a Cooks 3 four minutes later and Navarro rode Brown and Thibodeaux to a nine-point advantage.
“We got stuck on 76 for a long time,” Johnson said.
The Leopards had an answer, with Conley’s three-point play, Jordan Brown’s 17-footer and Permenter’s two free throws slicing the Bulldogs’ edge to 91-89 with three minutes left.
But again, Navarro made the right plays at the right time. Thibodeaux came off a curl and nailed a 3, then followed a Temple throwaway by burying an open 3 from the top to make it 97-89 at the 2:05 mark. And the Leopards didn’t make a final charge, scoring one basket in the last three minutes.
Temple will get a rematch with Navarro on Nov. 19 in Corsicana, and Saturday’s 4 p.m. home duel with seventh-ranked San Jacinto and a Nov. 14 battle at defending national champion South Plains should help get the Leopards ready.
And Johnson says TC’s players will benefit from this loss if they learn a lesson from what happened.
“The biggest lesson is that there are moments in each game when someone has to step up and make big plays,” he said. “And tonight, Navarro made those plays.”
