Freshman Jalan McCloud dropped 15 second-half points and carried the Blinn men's basketball team back from a 10-point halftime deficit. But the Buccaneers couldn't close out the game in the final minutes against Lee College.

The Rebels knocked off the Bucs 78-75 at the Blinn P.E. Building Wednesday night.

"I thought we played well and our guys competed and played hard, we just had a couple of critical mistakes down the stretch," Blinn (15-11, 5-10) coach Scott Schumacher said. "Had we converted those plays, I think it would have been a different game."

The Bucs built a 65-60 lead over Lee with 8:43 to play off an Eddie Alcantara 3-pointer and looked to be in control as dunks, blocked shots and a fast-paced offense swung the momentum in Blinn's favor.

But the Rebels slowly snatched that momentum back in the final five minutes.

Lee took the final advantage when Trahson Burrell hit a bucket with 1:25 to play. Burrell led the Rebels with 24 points.

Even in the final seconds, McCloud tried to carry the Bucs to a comeback when he hit a layup with 1.1 second remaining to cut Lee's lead to 78-75. Blinn tried to intercept the in-bounds pass and get off a last-second 3-pointer, but Lee caught a pass at half court to end the game.

McCloud led the Bucs with 20 points, and sophomore guard Macari Brooks scored 13. Freshman Roderick Harris dropped 10 points.

"At this point we're trying to point everything to the region tournament, and hopefully we'll be able to learn from our mistakes and take care of business at the region tournament," Schumacher said.