Rangers climb into NTJCAC lead

The Ranger College men's basketball team garnered double-digit efforts from six players on Wednesday and rolled to a key 90-83 victory over the Temple College Leopards in a showdown of the top teams in the Northern Texas Junior College Athletic Conference in the Ron Butler Gym.

With the victory, Ranger improved to 19-2 for the season and, more importantly, moved atop the NTJCAC standings with a 5-1 record. Temple, which had entered the game unbeaten in conference play, fell to 17-3 and 4-1.

Ranked eighth in the latest NJCAA poll, Ranger flexed its muscle early. The Rangers outscored Temple by a 44-35 margin in the first 20 minutes.

Sophomore Keyshaad Dixon joined Caleb Asberry in powering the RC offense. Dixon poured in 13 points in the contest, while also contributing five assists, six rebounds and three steals. Asberry scored a team-high 18 points and had five rebounds.

Temple, which was led by Kedrian Johnson's 39 points, made a run late. The Leopards pulled to within four in the final two minutes before Ranger put the game on ice.

Coryon Mason and Brayan Au also turned in strong performances for the Rangers. Mason pushed in 16 points. Au added 14 points and a pair of steals. Jaren English and Jonathan Jackson scored 12 and 11 points, respectively.

Ranger will return to action on Jan. 30 when they host Grayson County.