BRENHAM, Texas – Freshman guard Darrell Combs scored a game-high 26 points, including five big free throws in the game’s final minute to lead the Blinn Buccaneers to an 84-78 victory over Lone Star College-Tomball here Saturday.
Combs made 5 of 6 free throw attempts in the game’s final 54 seconds and freshman forward Kendall Deveaux finished with 15 points as the Buccaneers held off the Timberwolves at the Blinn P.E. Building.
Blinn led 42-35 at halftime, but Tomball battled back, and with 4:10 remaining Jason Ward hit a layup to pull the Timberwolves within one. Blinn guard T.J. Berry answered by cutting through the lane for a one-handed dunk, and a layup by Najee Farr gave the Bucs a 78-75 lead with 2:25 remaining.
Tomball’s Leroy Taylor cut Blinn’s lead to one point once again on a layup with 1:45 left to play, but in the game’s final minute Blinn was able to get Combs to the free throw line.
“We executed at the end to get the ball to Darrell and Darrell is a good free-throw shooter,” Blinn (6-7) coach Scott Schumacher said.
Berry finished with 12 points on the night while De’Quentin Greer scored 11, Marquise Hines scored nine and Farr added eight.
“I thought the ones that really made the difference tonight were De’Quentin Greer and Najee Farr,” Schumacher said. “I thought those guys played with a sense of urgency, I thought they played hard and they gave us some energy off the bench.”
Deveaux, a 6-foot-8 forward from the Bahamas, gave the Bucs an energy boost in the paint.
“He’s added 20 pounds since he has been here,” Schumacher said. “He just needs to get better with his footwork and his hands, but I really think he’s going to be something special. He’s going to be a big, 6-8 guy we can get the ball to and just let him score.”
The Buccaneers will play their final game of 2012 Sunday when they host Concordia University’s junior varsity at 5 p.m. in the Blinn P.E. Building.
For more information on Blinn basketball, visit www.buccaneersports.com.