First-half surge pushed RC past Coyotes

The Ranger College men's basketball team showed just how dominant it could be on Jan. 20 in front of its home crowd. Ranger pounded out a 31-point lead in the first 20 minutes of the contest and then cruised to an easy 83-68 victory over rival Weatherford College.

"We played our best half of the season," said RC head coach Billy Gillispie. "We were ready to play."

Keisei Tominaga and Brayan Au led Ranger's quick start. The two combined to sink 10 three-point in the contest. As a team, Ranger outscored Weatherford by a staggering 50-19 clip in the first half.

Tominaga, who upped his three-point total to 78 this season, terrorized the Coyotes from the perimeter. Overall, he hit of six of his eight three-point attempts and finished with a game-high 26 points. Au sank four of his six bombs from behind the three-point arc and chalked up 16.

Because of the perimeter shooting from Tominaga and Au, Jorell Saterfield was able to create havoc in the paint. The freshman pumped in 18 points, hitting on nine of his 12 attempts.

Even though he only found his way to the basket twice, C.J. Roberts also turned in a head-turning effort against Weatherford by dishing out a season-high 10 assists.

As a team, Ranger shot 61.1 percent from the field against the Coyotes, hitting on 33 of their 54 field goals. They were 10-of-18 from three-point range.

With the victory, Ranger moved to 20-1 for the season and, more importantly, to 5-0 in NTJCAC play.