The second ranked Highland men's basketball team heads into the holiday break in strong fashion picking up a pair of big wins in neutral site contests.

Scotties earned a 79-69 win over KJCCC Division I foe Neosho County on Saturday in a game played at Johnson County, while then Highland snagged a 81-61 win over #11 Southwestern on Sunday afternoon improving to 16-0 in the process.

Highland took on Neosho County for the second time this season and on Saturday it was tight for most of the first half as the Scotties owned just a 19-18 lead halfway through the first half. With five minutes to go before intermission Highland led 29-26 and the remainder of the first half was heavily in favor of the Scotties has they put together a 12-4 run to lead 41-30 at the half.

Scotties extended their lead in the second half before going on to claim the 79-69 win over Neosho County. Highland held Neosho County to under 40% shooting for the contest while going 23-33 from the free throw line to help secure the win.

Taiveyhon Mason once again led Highland this season as he dropped 23 points on 7-13 shooting and added three steals, three rebounds and one assist. Jaquan Daniels tallied an 18 point performance on 7-12 shooting, while Tristen Hull had 12 points and grabbed six rebounds against Neosho County.

On Sunday Scotties took on a fellow ranked NJCAA DII team in #11 Southwestern and took control of the contest early. Highland worked to a double figure lead for the first time in the game at the 13:30 mark of the first half as Mason and DJ Doakes drained three-pointers to give Highland the 19-9 lead. The lead continued to blossom in the first half for the Scotties and a flurry of points from Mason to finish the first half gave Highland the 49-28 lead at the half.

In the second half the Scotties pushed the lead up a bit further and kept Southwestern at bay the rest of the game sailing to an 81-61 win.

For the 13^th time this season the Scotties held an opponent to under 40% shooting for a game, while the Scotties won the rebounding margin 41-33 and went 16-22 from the free throw line.

Mason spear headed the Scotties performance notching 27 points, while adding three rebounds, three steals and two assists. A trio of other Scotties notched double figures as Luiz Machado Jr. scored 14 points, while Tristen Hull added 11 points and six rebounds. Rashon Johnson put up 10 points with five rebounds in the win over Southwestern.

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Highland now heads into the holiday break and will be off until retaking the court at home on Monday, January 7^th at 5:30pm against On Point Academy.