JUCO Playoff Coverage: Odessa Ousted

LUBBOCK, Tex. -- Odessa may have been the defending Region V champions, but the Wranglers had no answer for McLennan's dynamic duo of Michael DeGrate and Mike Jones on Thursday in a 93-81 quarterfinal round loss to the Highlanders.

Degrate and Jones combined for 55 points. Jones scored 21 of his game high 32 in the first half as McLennan built a 51-40 half-time edge.

Odessa made a charge at the Highlanders, erasing a 14 point second half deficit with a 20-4 surge that gave the Wranglers a 64-62 lead with 10:40 to play in the contest.

For the next seven minutes, the teams traded baskets until McLennan wrested control of the contest with a 17-6 game ending spurt.

Clinging to a 76-75 lead, Degrate sparked the run with a basket inside and a nifty feed to Jones for a deuce to boost the lead to 80-75 with 2:50 to play. After Odessa cut the deficit to three, DeGrate threw down a vicious baseline slam with 1:22 to play that fanned the lead back to five points and seemed to deflate the Wranglers.

In the final 1:10, McLennan knocked down seven of eight free throw attempts to salt the game away from the charity stripe.

Jones, a 6-6 sophomore forward whose silky smooth rainbow jumper fell all afternoon, shot 12 of 19 from the floor. Degrate (North Texas) was especially powerful in the second half and also racked up five assists with his keen passing.

Keith Simpson (12 points) and Condell Delancey (11 points) also hit double figures for the Highlanders, who advanced to Saturday afternoon's semis against Weatherford J.C.

After a sluggish first 25 minutes of play, Odessa found its stride midway through the second half, but expended a lot of energy during the comeback and had little left in the tank in the final minutes.

Impressive freshman combo guard Tre Simmons pumped in 21 points, collected 10 rebounds and five assists to lead the Wranglers in defeat. Five other Odessa players hit for double figures, including Javorie Wilson (14 points), Darrell Redmond (11 points), Janavor Weatherspoon (11 points), Barry Thompson (10 points) and Randy Holbrook (10 points).

The Oklahoma State bound Weatherspoon turned in perhaps his most sub par performance of the season, scoring just 11 points and turning over the ball five times before fouling out of the game in the second half.