With the defensive focus directed his way in the second half, Elijah Elliott transitioned from scorer to ball distributor.
The sophomore guard shifted seamlessly into the role and promptly helped the Blinn College men's basketball team secure a 90-73 victory over No. 15 Kilgore College on Saturday at the Kruse Center in Brenham, Texas.
"We came together, and I was happy to help my teammates in the second half," said Elliott, who scored 21 of his team-high 27 points in the first half. "This was a team effort all the way and I had a job in the second half, and that was to get my teammates the ball when they were open."
Elliott did his job to perfection and the Buccaneers (10-6) used his selfless play to improve to 4-2 in Region XIV play.
Blinn's 51-40 halftime lead swelled to 78-58 with 7:49 left when Elliott tossed a slick pass underneath to sophomore forward Alex Tsynkevich, who immediately sank a layup.
With Elliott keeping the ball moving throughout the Buccaneer offense, Tsynkevich capitalized with nine second-half points and finished the game with 15. Sophomore guards Damian Watson and Jaja Sanni each tallied six points in the second half. Sanni finished with 11 for the game.
"This was a good game for us to display our talent and show what we're capable of when we play as a team," Sanni said. "Kilgore came back at times, but we knew the key was moving the ball and trusting our teammates, and when we got back to that we were able to pull this one out."
(Pictured: Blinn College sophomore guard Elijah Elliott, center, soars toward the basket during a game against Kilgore on Jan. 7)
The game was tight in the first half with Blinn holding an 18-17 lead near the midway point of the half. Sanni was fouled on a converted jumper, however, and hit the ensuing free throw to kickstart a 10-0 run that put the hosts in control. Elliott scored five points during the stretch while Tsynkevich added a layup on a nice bounce pass from Elliott as the lead grew to 28-17.
Kilgore was within nine in the final seconds of the half, but Jakari Marshall stole an errant inbounds pass and turned it into a layup to send the Bucs into the intermission with a double-digit advantage.
"I thought our guys were locked in and focused," Blinn head coach Scott Schumacher said. "I thought our guys played really hard and really unselfishly. I tip my hat to our guys because they came out and they played hard. It's not out of our realm to play like this, and tonight we played well."
Freshman guard Masiah Gilyard added nine points, and Watson, sophomore guard Marco Foster, and freshman forward Jamine Charles posted eight apiece.
Blinn gets back to work with a region road tilt at Navarro College at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 11, in Corsicana, Texas.
