Jourdan Stickler hit a layup at the buzzer to give the Blinn men's basketball team the lead at halftime, but the Paris Dragons rallied in the second half to down the Buccaneers 87-76 here Tuesday.

"I thought we played really well in the first half, but we put them at the free throw line right off the bat in the second half," Blinn (9-2, 0-1 Region XIV) coach Scott Schumacher said.

Stickler's bucket gave Blinn a 40-37 lead at halftime. Paris, though, had success feeding the ball inside to its post Nom Dochoum, who scored 14 points and had a 7-for-10 showing in the second half. The Dragons shot 18 of 24 from the free throw line in the second half.

"Dochoum really hurt us inside," Schumacher said.

The Bucs got 20 points and eight rebounds from sophomore guard Macari Brooks. Freshman Jalan McCloud scored 16 points, and Stickler pulled down seven rebounds.

The stat of the night, though: Blinn shot just 6 percent from the 3-point line to Paris' 33 percent.

"That really hurts you," Schumacher said. "When you shoot threes and miss, that leads to long rebounds."

Blinn matched up with Paris in nearly every other aspect of the game: the Bucs shot 41 percent from the field to Paris' 42 percent, Blinn was 70 percent from the free throw line to the Dragons' 71 percent and the Bucs outrebounded Paris 47-42.

"We had to scratch and claw the entire second half," Schumacher said.