The Temple College hosted Hill College in a Wednesday evening North Texas Junior College Athletic Conference men's basketball tilt at Kirby Johnson Court.

Hill overcame a seven-point Temple lead early in the game and held a seven-point advantage of their own before the Leopards got a dunk by Eben Effah with 11:44 to go that gave TC the lead for good.

The Leopards won the contest by 14 points, 86-72.

Temple (17-10, 6-5 NTJCAC) jumped out to a seven-point lead and kept a two-score game before Hill closed out the half on a 13-8 clip and led at the break, 45-42.

The Rebels led 57-50 when the Leopards' 10-2 run was capped on a slash through the lane by Effah. He grabbed a pass, went airborne, and finished with a one-handed dunk, which forced the Rebels to call a timeout with 11:44 to play, down 60-59.

Temple's suffocating defense force multiple turnovers that the Leopards cashed in. A 12-4 TC run over 3:44 opened up a nine-point lead with eight minutes to play.

The closest the Rebels came down the stretch was six points with five minutes to go. However, the Leopards closed out the game on a 9-1 run to win the game by 14.

Temple went 6-of-11 from the free-throw line and hit seven three-pointers.

Five Leopards scored in double figures, with Josh Telfort having led TC with 26 points. Jaymes Brown-Peterson added 13, Joel Brown contributed 12, and Roy Gardner and Camren Roper added ten each.

Hill (8-18, 1-9 NTJCAC) also converted 6-of-11 from the charity stripe, and connected on six three-pointers.

Three Rebels scored in double figures, led by Allan Omana with 19 points, 17 of which he scored in the first half. Derrick Morris added 15 and Andrew Robinson chipped in 13 for Hill.

The win pulled Temple in sole possession of fourth place with three games remaining. They will travel to take on second-place Weatherford in a doubleheader on Saturday. The women's game will be at 2 pm, followed by the men's game at 4 pm.