LEVELLAND — Jabori Mcghee scored a career-high 38 points and the second-ranked South Plains College men's basketball team improved to 8-0 on the season with a 91-61 drumming of Ranger College Monday at the Texan Dome.
South Plains will be on the road this weekend when they travel to Plano for the Collin County Thanksgiving Classic, slated for Nov. 24-25. The Texans will take on Otero at 5 p.m. on Friday, before a 5 p.m. tip against Hill on Saturday. Both games will stream live at spctexans.com.
"Our coaches put a good plan together, and we knew this was going to be a big game for us," Mcghee said. "We have 14 guys who can score the ball, and as the point guard, I try to bring energy they can feed off. We prepared hard, and we compete in practice, and we all trust each other to knock down shots and score the ball. Ranger is a good team, and we had to bring it defensively. We locked in on defense, and it helped us out offensively."
Mcghee bucketed 15 of 20 shots from the field over 36 minutes, as South Plains shot a 56.9 percent clip from the floor. Jermahri Hill netted 20 points on eight of nine shooting, while also snagging seven boards and recording a pair of blocked shots.
"We wanted to play inside out, and when they try to key on our point guard, it opens up shots for everyone else," Hill said. "We trusted what our coaches told us, and we knew we had to play the three-point line and play the help side. We have to continue to work and put in the time to not get complacent and continue to improve."
Jalen Forrest provided 13 points and seven rebounds coming off the bench, while Malique Ewin tallied eight points and seven boards. Ranger shot just 36.8 percent from the field and was six of 24 from distance.
"The thing I'm the most proud of is that was the third straight game we held our opponent under 70 points, "South Plains head coach Hayden Sowers said. "We're gradually getting better on the defensive end, and Cam Parker did one heck of a job with the scouting report. He told us we needed to limit their 3s, and they were six of 24 from three, and that's us following his scouting report. We have to get back in here tomorrow, take care of our bodies, and this place expects you to play deep into March, and I think we have the guys who can do that."