Many New Faces on Flyer Squad that Opens Season at Home on Friday
Starting with Friday's 7 p.m. season opener against New River CC, followers of Sandhills Community College basketball will have the opportunity to take in the entire first two weeks of games in the comfortable confines of Heins Gymnasium.
Including Saturday's 1 p.m. date with Oxford College of Emory University, the No. 9 Flyers' (NJCAA Division III Pre-season Poll) first six games will be at home. It should be an interesting and entertaining time.
"What I see is a team trying to figure out exactly who we are going to be," Coach Mike Apple (7th season, 146-48) said following an encouraging 94-71 win over the St. Andrews varsity in the final tune-up on Monday. "We have to make an identity for ourselves offensively and defensively."
Harrell, Moore and Garrison Provide Experience in Front Court
The transition from one year to the next was more seamless for the team that went on to win 26 games a year ago when the Flyers returned four guards, who are currently members of teams at four year colleges, along with NJCAA All-American forward Jeremias Easterling.
Most of the experience will be provided by front court players this time around. That group is led by 6-foot-8 first-team All-Region X Freshmen Team selectee Mason Harrell, 6-6 all-region freshman honorable mention pick Luke Moore and 6-6 Shane Garrison.
Harrell averaged 9.5 points and 8.1 rebounds a year ago with 53 blocked shots and nine double-doubles. He was credited with 14 points, 15 rebounds and three assists in just 21 minutes of action against St. Andrews. He will miss the first four games because of an altercation in the final game of last season that resulted in the suspension of members of both teams.
Moore came on strong in the final third of last season to average 8.5 points and 5.5 rebounds. He made 55 per cent of his shots from the field and 47 per cent from behind the arc. Garrison started 16 games averaging six points and four rebounds per contest.
"Mason is an extremely hard worker," Apple said. "He has a great desire to be a good basketball player. Guys like that are fun to coach. Luke is coming back from an illness that sidelined him for most of the pre-season and he's just starting to find his way.
"Shane is one of our better defensive players. He gives everything he has on every possession and makes excellent decisions with the basketball."
Apple calls 6-4 sophomore Juwaan Childs his best low post scorer. The front court cast includes three red-shirt freshmen in small forwards Damauri Sexton, 6-6 and Jake Murdoch, 6-4, and Xavier Grissett, a 6-8 rim protector who was credited with four blocked shots in the St. Andrews scrimmage. Zion Copeland (Northern Vance) is a 6-4 true freshman who runs the court well and shows a lot of potential as a rebounder and shot blocker.
Flyer Point Guards Learn on the Fly
The experience in the backcourt comes from three shooting guards in 6-0 Malik McCrimmon, 5-11 Johnny McFadden, and red-shirt sophomores Parrish Stevons, 6-1, and 5-11 Emmanuel Merriweather who sat out last season.
A member of the all-region academic team last year, Stevons was a standout in Monday's scrimmage putting together a stat line that included a team-high 16 points to go with five rebounds and three assists. He, McCrimmon and Merriweather combined to make five of the team's 12 treys.
Casey Clarkson, a 5-7 red-shirt freshman, and 5-10 freshman Donnie Haith, an all-conference and all-district performer at Pinecrest High School, split the minutes at point guard in the scrimmage and took good care of the basketball. Clarkson committed just one turnover in 21 minutes and Haith had three in 19.
"Casey and Donnie both possess leadership qualities," Apple says. "Their biggest problem is game experience. They're learning on the fly, but that's the way it works. I think both are going to be really good by mid-season."
Another newcomer, Chase Morrissette-Barnett was a member of the Butler High School team that went 30-1 last season. The 6-3 shooting guard was impressive in each of the pre-season scrimmages. He contributed a dozen points and a pair of assists on Monday.
"Chase came from an excellent high school program and plays very hard and is not afraid of challenges," Apple said. "I like the way he rebounds and guards people."
Tavarus Peterson, 6-2, who lit up the Flyers for 33 and 24 points as a member of the Mount Zion Prep team last season, and 6-1 Winston Bryan (Dudley), are the other newcomers at the guard position.
A Successful Season is Well-defined
Like last season, Region X consists of four teams. The Flyers will play regular season and tournament champion Davidson County CC, Johnston CC and Central Carolina CC three times each. In all, 18 of the 30 regular season games will be at home. The national tournament will be played in Loch Sheldrake, New York where the Flyers won the national title in 2012 and finished in seventh place in 2015.
"We definitely have high standards," Apple says. "We want to be better than last year's team that was 26-6 and finished ranked eighth in the nation. We haven't been to the district tournament in a while and we want to get back to nationals.
"We've got to learn to play a 94-foot game. We are constantly pushing them to go faster. We want to play an exciting and polished game of basketball that people want to come to see."
The coaching staff includes returnee Darell Yates and a new addition in Scott Bender who played high school basketball at Pinecrest and North Moore.
Former Flyers Playing in Other Places
2017 Sandhills graduates Christian Lathan and Jeremias Easterling were greeted warmly as members of the St. Andrews team. Lathan scored a game-high 18 points and Easterling contributed 16 points and eight rebounds.
Also from last year's squad, Josh Smith and DeAngelo Harris are members of the team at Fayetteville State, and Zezva Liluashvili is at Aquinas College in Michigan. Other alums preparing for this season include Tony Harper at Johnson C. Smith and Craig McDaniel at St. Augustine.
by Charlie Bergman
Photo by Donna Ford