No. 6 Blazers Outlast No. 3 Bees, Reach District Title Game

DALLAS – Dallas College North Lake is back in a familiar position.

Ranked sixth in the country, North Lake beat No. 3 Dallas College Eastfield 82-78 in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III South Central District semifinals Friday night at Dallas College Richland. The win sends the Blazers back to the district championship for the fourth time in five years.

Third-seeded North Lake (21-10) will play fourth-seeded Dallas College Brookhaven (14-18) in Saturday's 4 p.m. championship game.

Zach Thompson and Santana Spivey each scored 16 points for the Blazers, who went 2-2 against Eastfield (20-9) this season, and improved to 2-1 in neutral site games. Spivey hit four three-pointers, his last giving North Lake a 15-point lead with 10:56 to play.

"I just trust my teammates to get me out and running," Thompson said. "They're going to see me running. They know I'm going to get down there, and I'm just going to finish it."

The Blazers canned seven triples – the second time they did so against the Harvester Bees, both times leading to North Lake wins. Spivey drained a combined nine triples in those two wins against Eastfield.

With 7:01 left, Ja'Den Stiggers hit a three to give the Blazers their largest lead of the second half at 70-53. Eastfield responded with a 6-0 run as Vuk Vukadinovic scored on a dish from Aiden White with 5:53 remaining to trim the lead to 11. Martez James scored on a lay-in with just over three minutes to go, pulling the Harvesters within eight.

Elijah Black, who had 12 points, sank two free throws at the 2:53 mark to re-extend the Blazers' lead to 10. Ricky Wilson split a pair from the stripe, and Braydon Campbell hit two more to pull the Bees within four with 25 seconds left.

Campbell, who finished with 27 points, going 12 for 12 from the free throw line, found James wide open underneath for a bunny with 15 seconds to go to pull Eastfield within 78-76. Spivey sank two free throws with four seconds on the clock to seal it.

"We were just told to finish the game," Thompson said. "We know we can do it. Stop fouling, box out, hit your free throws when they foul you at the end."

James had 18 points, and White 10 for the Harvester Bees. Carter had 13 for the Blazers.

North Lake was 17 of 21 at the line. The Blazers missed only one free throw in the second half. Eastfield was 20 of 28.

The Blazers will see Brookhaven for the fourth time this season on Championship Saturday.

"We just have to come in confident," Thompson said. "We've beat 'em three times. I believe we can do it again."