College Sports

By JOE BUIE
Staff Writer

The Tyler Junior College Apaches scored a perfect 10 on a most imperfect night.

TJC never led until overtime, and survived a desperation 3-pointer by Navarro at the buzzer to eke out a 77-75 win Wednesday night at Wagstaff Gymnasium.

The Apaches improved to 10-0 on the season and 4-0 in Region XIV on their final game of the fall semester.

Navarro (5-6, 2-2) lost despite taking a 15-2 lead in the game's opening 3 1/2 minutes, when the Bulldogs made their first five 3-pointers.

"We took a pretty good shot from the opponent and nothing went right," said TJC head coach Mike Marquis. "It showed a little intestinal fortitude that we just kept hanging in and hanging in.

"We made some adjustments but to Navarro's credit, they made us make some adjustments. They shot us out of the zone and they played well against the man-to-man."

The Apaches, who trailed by as many as 11 in the second half, tied it for the first time, 64-64, on Reggie Nelson's layup with 44 seconds left. Malcolm Thomas set up the score by stealing an errant Navarro pass in the backcourt.

The game was tied four times in overtime, but TJC never trailed. The Apaches took the lead for good, 75-73, when Thomas stole the inbounds pass at midcourt and went in for a dunk.

Thomas, a sophomore from Karnack, followed that with another key play by forcing a Navarro turnover that led to a Jamie Vanderbeken free throw.

The Apaches nursed the lead to four with 8.9 seconds to play, but Navarro got credit for a bucket when TJC's Joseph Fulce accidentally tipped in a Bulldog miss to make it 77-75 with 1.9 on the clock.

Thomas missed back-to-back foul shots with 1.1 left, and then Navarro actually had two chances to win.

The clock initially expired, but the officials opted to put 1.1 back on the clock after saying the clock started too early on Navarro's rebound.

The Bulldogs then executed a long baseball pass that Patrick Johnson caught at the left wing, but his 3-point attempt hit the front rim and fell away and TJC survived.

"That was a good team and we weren't on our 'A' game, but it's just good to see us come back when everybody's not firing on all cylinders," said Thomas, who had 12 points and three steals.

Fulce, who has signed with Marquette, had a team-high 21 points and 10 rebounds to offset an off-night from leading scorer Jimmy Butler. Butler was 1-of-8 from the field but had several key assists.

Jamie Vanderbeken, a 6-10 sophomore, also aided in the comeback as he finished with 17 points. Nelson, a redshirt freshman from John Tyler, added 11 points and four assists.

"Our depth showed again," Marquis said. "Two of our top scorers were guys off the bench. But I think a big key is we came out of halftime with the adjustment of going inside to Vanderbeken and Joe."

Navarro was 12-of-26 from the 3-point line, but was ultimately undone by 25 turnovers - 12 coming in the second half after TJC turned up the pressure.

The Bulldogs shot 42 percent from the field, compared to 39 percent for the Apaches.

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Tyler 77, Navarro 75, OT

NAVARRO - Deandre Brown, 24; Jantzen Carter, 11; Patrick Johnson, 4; Chris Roberts, 13; Marcus Vermeiren, 2; Niko Stylianou, 11; Josh Bonney, 8; Paul Crosby, 0; David Scott, 2. FG 30-71 FT 3-6.

TYLER - Tyler Jefferson, 2; Reggie Nelson, 11; William Kossangue, 5; Alan Branch, 0; Randall Hampton, 0; Jamie Vanderbeken, 17; Malcolm Thomas, 12; Justin Johnson, 4; Joseph Fulce, 21; Jimmy Butler, 5. FG 29-75 FT 13-20.

THREE POINT GOALS - NC (12-of-26): Brown (4), Carter (3), Roberts (3), Stylianou (2); TJC (6-of-21): Kossangue, Vanderbeken, Thomas (2), Fulce (2).

HALFTIME SCORE - Navarro 32-24.

REGULATION - 64-64.

TURNOVERS - NC: 25; TJC: 17.

REBOUNDS - NC: 42; TJC: 40.

RECORDS - Navarro, 5-6 (2-2); Tyler, 10-0 (4-0).

NEXT UP - Navarro at McLennan, Jan. 3; Angelina at Tyler, Jan. 5.

EST. ATT. - 800.

SURROUNDED: TJC’s Tyler Jefferson (left) and Reggie Nelson (right) put defensive pressure on Navarro’s Jantzen Carter in the second half of Wednesday’s game.
((Staff Photos By Herb Nygren Jr.))