After scoring just four points in Temple College’s home basketball loss to Navarro on Wednesday, Ellis apologized to his coach and his teammates, saying the loss was his fault.
He made no apology for his performance on Saturday afternoon, though, after scoring 25 points, including five 3-point baskets, to lead the Leopards to a 104-89 win over No. 7-ranked San Jacinto College at TC Gym.
“I knew I let my team down the last game,” Ellis said, referring to the 105-95 loss to Navarro. “I told my coach (Kirby Johnson) I accept full responsibility for that loss because I only contributed four points. I told him it’s the last time I do that. So this game I wanted to show him that.”
Ellis had three of his 3s in the first half. The first gave Temple a 14-4 lead early, the second allowed TC to retake the lead at 22-21 right after San Jac’s Carrington Tankson had nailed one that had capped a 11-0 run by the Ravens, and the third gave the Leopards a 10-point lead at 44-34 with 5:40 to play in the half.
“Most people probably wouldn’t see me as a 3-point shooter,” added Ellis, a Harker Heights graduate. “But I wanted them to know that (I could shoot them), being the seventh-ranked team in the nation.”
It took San Jacinto a while to get the message that Ellis - and all of the Leopards - could shoot them. That’s partly because so far this year, according to Johnson, they haven’t been very consistent shooting them.
“We shot the 3 better tonight,” Johnson said. “The other games we’ve (struggled adjusting to the deeper 3-point line). But we’re not necessarily a 3-point-shooting team.”
But Temple (3-1) had seven 3s in the first half alone.
Temple’s sudden 3-point ability became apparent to San Jacinto, as well.
At one point, when Johnson was harping at the referees for the disparity in the foul totals (Temple had committed 15 to San Jacinto’s five), Ravens assistant coach Scott Hortsman yelled at Johnson, “Kirby, our guys aren’t getting close enough to foul. We’re just standing there letting your guys shoot open 3s.’”
The 3-point shooting and effective full-court pressure defense helped Temple pull out to a 58-48 halftime lead.
After TC built it to a 15-point lead early in the second half, it looked like a foregone conclusion that the Leopards were going to roll.
But after watching a nine-point second-half lead turn into a 10-point loss to Navarro, the Leopards knew better. And so did the Ravens (3-1).
Two 3s by Tankson helped the Ravens begin the rally back and tie the game at 73 with just over 10 minutes to play. Ellis grabbed it back with his fourth 3, but San Jac answered with a basket by Andrew Gonzalez, a defensive stop and a 3 by Jerrod Tillmon to go up 78-76, forcing a Temple timeout.
“When they started coming back and we had the one timeout, I said, ‘Let’s not lose our intensity. We aren’t losing to these guys. We’re not losing this,’” Ellis said. “‘Just looking at when we were in our huddle and they were looking at us, we knew we wanted it more.”
The teams kept it close, with Temple holding a 86-83 lead when things took a dramatic turn. Tillmon fired a 3 to try to tie the game, but when it missed and TC came away with a tough rebound and started pushing up the court, San Jacinto head coach Scott Gernander received a technical foul for kicking his chair. Ellis made both free throws and then nailed his final 3 to give TC a 91-83 lead with 2:58 to play.
“Was I surprised at the tech? Yeah, because I didn’t see what happened,” Johnson said. “I’m sure it had something to do with (Temple pulling away) but it wasn’t as big as Chris hitting the 3 or Sean (Jones) hitting the pull-up jumper (on an ensuing possession).”
Regardless, Gernander was clearly upset with the technical call the rest of the game and the Leopards found building their lead a breeze.
Said Johnson: “I told them before the game, ‘This is going to be our character game. We got beat the other night and we don’t lose many at home. Now we have a game like this, a ranked team coming in here and have a chance to show we can beat a ranked team and not just beat the teams we are supposed to. We feel like we are a team capable of being in the top 10 or top 20, and when you have a game like this you have to step up and play. That doesn’t mean you have to win them all, but we have to put ourselves in position to win.’
“And I thought we did.”
Temple High School product Russ Permenter scored 23 points for the Leopards and J.B. Conley added 19.
Tankson’s 26 for San Jacinto led all scorers.
“Man, it feels so good, coming off the loss to Navarro,” Ellis concluded. “We wanted to take care of business. We were so hyped - I’m still hyped. I want to play them again. I can’t wait until our next game. The intensity is just going to carry over.”
