For 40 minutes, the Blinn men's basketball team held its own against the third-ranked Kilgore Rangers.

But in a five-minute overtime period, the Rangers pulled away and escaped the Blinn P.E. Building with an 88-83 Region XIV Conference victory.

"Give credit to Kilgore, they're a very good ballclub," Blinn (8-4, 0-3 Region XIV) coach Scott Schumacher said. "They're very deserving of their national ranking."

Blinn led the Rangers at halftime, 36-35, thanks to a shot from beyond half-court by sophomore Jourdan Stickler, who finished the game with 16 points. Kilgore, though, came out and quickly regained the lead to start the second half. Blinn had to fight back the entire half and tied the game at 74 with 12 seconds remaining.

The Rangers missed two shots underneath the basket at the end of regulation.

Kilgore went on to outscore the Bucs 14-9 in the extra period.

Blinn's Macari Brooks and Jalan McCloud each scored 16 points, and Cornell Barnett scored 12.

"I thought our guys were committed and stuck through the adversity," Schumacher said. "They executed what we asked them to execute and it was a good game for them physically and mentally. We had a chance to win, it just didn't happen tonight."

Stephan Moody, an Ole Miss commit, scored a game-high 34 points for Kilgore, and Jamarcus Weatherspoon scored 25 points, 23 of which came in the second half.

The game marks the Bucs' last until Dec. 31 when they host Lone Star College–Cy Fair at 4 p.m. in the P.E. Building.