The Blinn College men's basketball team fell just short of a Region XIV upset on Wednesday, falling to No. 10 Lee College 82-77 on the road in Baytown, Texas.

The Buccaneers, who sit in second place in the Region XIV South Zone behind Lee, are now 14-7 overall and 8-3 in the South.

It was a battle from start to finish for Blinn, which trailed the host Navigators by double digits in the first half before battling back to take a temporary lead in the second.

"It was the type of game we thought it would be," Bucs head coach Scott Schumacher said. "It was a tough, hard-fought game, and it came down to Lee making some shots at the end. We had some open looks but the shots just didn't go in. But overall, it was a good game."

Blinn trailed 38-32 at the half.

Offensively, sophomore guard Elijah Elliott paced the Bucs with 23 points. Sophomore guard Marco Foster tallied 12 points, sophomore guard Damian Watson had 11, and sophomore guards Jaja Sanni and Bakari LaStrap chipped in 10 apiece.

Blinn resumes its season with a region home tilt against Jacksonville College at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 28, at the Kruse Center in Brenham, Texas.

Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 42 NJCAA national championships since 1987.