No. 7 Tyler avenges lone loss, edges rival Kilgore, 70-67

Published 9:17 pm Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Tyler Junior College and Kilgore College treated fans to a thriller for the second time this season.

This time, however, it was the TJC Apaches who were on the winning side.

Kilgore had handed the Apaches their only loss of the season — 95-92 in overtime on Jan. 25 in Kilgore.

On Wednesday night at Wagstaff Gymnasium in front of a large crowd, No. 7 TJC escaped with the 70-67 victory.

“That was a great win for us,” TJC head coach Mike Marquis said. “Those two teams are pretty good. There are different components to each of them. They have the physicality down low, and we’ve got good guard play.”

The Apaches led 66-62 with 1:49 left after two free throws by Kieffer Punter. Kilgore came back down and quickly got the ball to its big sophomore Rodrigue Andela, who finished inside to cut the score to 67-64 with 1:37 to go.

The Rangers got the ball back and had a chance to tie, but former Longview Lobo Jason Bush Jr. stole D’Rell Roberts’ entry pass with less than a minute to play.

Roberts then got a steal and was fouled with 32.5 seconds remaining. Roberts missed both free throws.

Deandre Heckard connected on two free throws with 17.9 seconds left for the Apaches.

Cameron Gooden hit a triple with 10.5 seconds left for Kilgore, and the inbound pass was thrown away and collected by Roberts.

After a timeout, Gooden attempted a go-ahead jumper, but it was no good, and Rory Pantophlet secured the rebound with 2.8 seconds on the clock. Pantophlet made both free throws.

Roberts got a look from half court at the buzzer that was no good to give TJC its sixth consecutive win.

“This was a great atmosphere,” Marquis said. “There’s a good chance that is not the last time we meet them.”

The Apaches placed four players in double figures. Punter came off the bench to score 14 points. Shahada Wells had 13 points and eight assists. Heckard and Bush both had 12 points. Pantophlet added 9 points and 11 rebounds, and Malik Lawrence-Anderson had 9 points and six boards.

Andela led Kilgore with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Roberts scored 14 points, and Gooden had 11 points.

It was a tightly contested game throughout. Kilgore’s largest lead was seven, while TJC never led by more than six.

The Rangers’ biggest lead of the game came early at 15-8, but the Apaches responded with a 10-2 spurt to go up 18-17.

The lead then exchanged hands multiple times with Kilgore taking a 36-35 lead into halftime.

The teams continued to take places in the lead in the second half. With Kilgore up 53-52 with 9:54 to play, TJC went on a 7-0 run as Bush scored on two straight trips and Wells hit a triple.

Kilgore cut the score to 59-57, and the Apaches used a 5-1 spurt to go up by six once again with 4:24 remaining.

A big difference for the Apaches came at the free-throw line. They were 8 of 14 from the charity stripe in the first half and 9 of 10 in the second half.

Tyler (23-1, 15-1) will play against Trinity Valley on Saturday in Athens. Kilgore (20-7, 11-6) will host Navarro on Saturday.

SMOKE SIGNALS: During halftime, Tyler ISD superintendent Marty Crawford and Tyler ISD Board of Trustees President Wade Washmon coached and officiated a game between youth teams the Lady Bears and the Apaches.

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Tyler 70, Kilgore 67

Kilgore 36 31 — 67

Tyler 35 35 — 70

KILGORE — Montrell Horsey 8; Cameron Gooden 11; Tyron McMillian 9; D’Rell Roberts 14; Rodrique Andela 16; Assane Ndiaye 3; Stephan Morris 6.

TYLER — Shahada Wells 13; Deandre Heckard 12; Jason Bush 12; Rory Pantophlet 9; Malik Lawrence-Anderson 9; Kieffer Punter 14; Jackson Kennedy 1.

Atwood, Sullivan combine to lead Lamar past Sam Houston St.

HUNTSVILLE (AP) — T.J. Atwood scored 20 points and Avery Sullivan scored 18 and Lamar beat Sam Houston State 77-65 on Wednesday night.

Atwood and Sullivan both finished 8-of-11 shooting, Davion Buster scored 14 points and Anderson Kopp scored 12 for the Cardinals (14-13, 8-8 Southland Conference). Lamar has won back-to-back contests and four of its last six. The Cardinals led 36-35 at halftime and started the second half with a 14-5 run and led by 10.

Sam Houston State (17-10, 10-6) never got within six points the rest of the way.

Kai Mitchell scored 17 points for Sam Houston State and Zach Nutall 15. The Bearkats saw their two-game win streak come to an end and have lost four of their last six.

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