Odessa College men’s basketball coach Kris Baumann has been raving about Daniss Jenkins’ potential to be an NJCAA All-American all season.
Jenkins’ ability to change a game has helped Odessa College go undefeated in Western Junior College Athetic Conference play up to this point.
His 3-point shooting led the Wranglers to a 99-68 win over Western Texas College Friday at the OC Sports Center.
“It’s great to see him shooting the ball because he does so many different things for our team,” Baumann said. “To see him really shoot the ball well from three tonight, it was a big boost for our team.”
Baumann added that the point guard had a good week of practice and everyone on the team follows his lead.
Jenkins led the Wranglers with 33 points, going 8-for-10 from the three-point line.
After taking a few minutes to find their footing on offense early in the game, the Wranglers quickly built up a double-digit lead to close out the first half.
The Westerners managed to make it a close game by cutting Odessa College’s lead down to four points with four minutes left until the break.
Odessa College outscored Western Texas 16-4 the rest of the way in the first 20 minutes, sparked by two 3-pointers from Jenkins.
The Wranglers continued to add to their advantage early in the second half, extending their lead to 31 points before Western Texas came up with an answer.
After getting some quick 3-pointers from Jaedan Jefferson and Lorenzo Downey, the Westerners cut the deficit to 17 points with a little over six minutes left in the game.
Odessa College went on to outscore the visitors 21-7 to close out its 11th win in conference play.
Baumann has noticed the team pick up the energy as its winning streak continues.
“I think guys are playing hard and they’re playing for each other,” Baumann said. “I think that’s important.”
Garry Clark scored 29 points to lead the Westerners.
The contest was originally scheduled to take place Thursday, but was moved because of inclement weather that blanketed a majority of the state.
The Wranglers (20-5 overall, 11-0 conference) have won 12 in a row and get a bye before going up against New Mexico Military Institute at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 10 at the OC Sports Center.
Baumann said he doesn’t know if the day off is hitting his team at a good or bad time because of how well it has been playing recently.
“With the weather and all the crazy stuff that’s going on, it kind of changed our schedule this week,” Baumann said. “I’m going to give them Saturday and Sunday off, then we’re going to come back ready to work on Monday and play a very good New Mexico Military team.”
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Odessa College 99, Western Texas College 68
WESTERN TEXAS COLLEGE (13-12 overall, 3-8 WJCAC)
Justin Davis 1-3 0-0 3, Khaleem Bennett 1-5 3-4 5, Garry Clark 11-23 5-6 29, Lorenzo Downey 3-7 0-0 9, Tyson Brown 4-6 1-4 9, Dawson John 2-7 0-2 6, Jaedan Jefferson 1-1 0-0 3, Tylan Jackson 0-1 0-0 0, Arseniy Semenov 2-2 0-0 4. Totals 25-55 9-16 68.
ODESSA COLLEGE (20-5, 11-0)
Dian Wright-Forde 2-5 0-0 5, Daniss Jenkins 11-16 3-3 33, Daniel Rivera 2-3 2-3 6, Dontrell Hewlett 6-10 2-2 16, Shakeem Alcindor 1-1 0-0 2, Darrell Armstrong Jr. 3-6 0-0 9, Terry Brown 0-0 0-0 0, Anthony Marshall 2-7 1-2 5, Mike Rivera 0-2 2-2 2, Garfield Turner 1-1 0-0 2, Tre Richardson 1-6 0-0 2, Chandler Cuthrell 1-2 0-0 2, Kiree Huie 7-8 1-1 15. Totals 37-67 11-13 99.
Halftime — Odessa College 42, Western Texas College 26. 3-Point goals — Western Texas College 9-21 (Davis 1-3, Clark 2-6, Downey 3-5, John 2-5, Jefferson 1-1, Jackson 0-1), Odessa College 14-28 (Wright-Forde 1-2, Jenkins 8-10, Hewlett 2-3, Armstrong 3-6, Marshall 0-1, M. Rivera 0-2, Richardson 0-4). Total fouls — Western Texas College 12, Odessa College 19. Fouled out — Western Texas College (Semenov), Odessa College (Turner). Technical fouls — None. Rebounds — Western Texas College 25 (Brown 9), Odessa College 33 (Huie 7). Assists — Western Texas College 11 (Jefferson 3), Odessa College 23 (Wright-Forde 6).
