HILLSBORO, Mo. - After shooting colder than the outside temperature for the opening six minutes on Saturday, Highland (9-4) recovered and stifled Jefferson College (2-11) in a 95-74 win. Tavian Tate led all scorers with 23 points on the afternoon, with Adriel Smith (17), Colton Knoll (15) and EJ Coleman (10) joining him in double figures.

Highland struggled to find its range both inside and out early, managing just 3-of-9 shooting through the first media timeout. Solid defense kept the damage to a minimum, however, as the Scotties held Jefferson College to 3-of-10 shooting over the same stretch and took a 7-6 lead on a Knoll steal that turned into a fast-break bucket for Smith drawing a 30-second timeout by the Vikings with 14:04 on the clock.

Jefferson tried to hang on to its early lead, with Ro'Ziah Scott Bates knocking down a triple out of the timeout, but Highland was able to keep pace and pull away after the second media stoppage.

The Scotties extended a 11-10 lead to a 25-13 margin by the 8:11 mark, sparked by a pair of baskets from DJ Thomas - a three-pointer at 11:14 followed by a breakaway layup that forced a Viking timeout with 10:39 on the clock. Highland continued to press through halftime, taking a 47-32 lead into intermission.

After closing the first half hitting better than 50 percent from the floor (14-27), Highland continued its solid shooting performance through the second half, hitting 19-of-37 (51.4 pct) in the second 20 minutes. Highland extended as far as a 72-52 lead with just over eight minutes left.

Jefferson College tried to mount a comeback, using a 12-2 run over the next three minutes to pull within 11 points, but Takeo Moore halted the run with both ends of a one-and-one after drawing contact in the lane, with Smith reading the passing lane to pick off an entry pass from Logan Schubert and running the floor for an easy layup with 4:56 left.

Highland shrugged off Schubert's effort to atone as he found Willie Griggs open for a layup with 4:34 on the clock, holding the Vikings at arm's length down the stretch and pulling away in the final minute.

The Scotties are off for the holidays, returning to the court on January 5th with a road contest against Metropolitan Community College - Kansas City. Tipoff for the game is set for 7 p.m., following the Highland women's basketball team's return to the court.