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LEVELLAND, Texas - The South Plains College Texan basketball team's undefeated record has helped them to receive 14-of-16 first place votes and the No. 1 ranking in the NJCAA basketball polls released Tuesday afternoon.

South Plains (18-0, 3-0 WJCAC) began the season with a No. 18 national ranking in the pre-season poll, but quickly sped up to No. 7 in the November 15 poll after knocking off ranked opponents Trinity Valley and Lamar State-Port Arthur in the second weekend of the season.

Click here to read Gill's bio

With their 93-56 victory over Tomball College on Monday, January 2, the McLennan Community College Highlanders gave Kevin Gill his 400th career coaching victory. 

Gill, who took over the reins of the Highlander program in 2002, entered this season with a record of 220 wins and only 65 losses as McLennan's head men's basketball coach and has led his team to the Region 5 tournament every year.  Four times the Highlanders have advanced to the semi-final round of the tournament.

Something had to give. The scoreboard had become like the old truck that you loved all your life, but it only worked on certain schedules, never at the most critical times. Thirty seasons had come and gone and the original scoreboard at the Odessa College Sports Center was literally functioning on one leg. Replacement parts were difficult, if not impossible to find and repair was constantly required.

NEW YORK -- Marquette coach Buzz Williams didn't mince any words when he was asked about senior forward Jae Crowder.

"That's my guy. I'll row with that cat no matter where he goes when his career is over," Williams said. "We don't win that game without the character of our group, and Jae and D.J. (Darius Johnson-Odom) have done a great job leading our guys on a daily basis."

Crowder hit a 3-pointer from the corner with 6.3 seconds to play and the 11th-ranked Golden Eagles beat Washington 79-77 in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night.

In the first of three possible events, the MC basketball team showed their support for blindness prevention and the defeat of diseases that contribute to the loss of sight for Texans. The Chaparrals and Prevent Blindness Texas joined forces to help increase awareness of eye diseases, eye safety and chronic diseases that can rob people of their vision.