Flyers Host Patrick and Henry for Region 10 Championship

Sandhills took on Mountain Gateway Community College in Saturday's semifinals, where they came out on top 103-98. After a back and forth first half, the Flyers found themselves up with a one point lead at the break 48-47. The Flyers built up a lead early in the second half, and looked to pull away, until a run from Mountain Gateway cut the lead to four with less than a minute remaining. In the end the Flyers managed to come away with a five point win and a berth in the Region Championship game.

"This time of year, you're playing for your basketball life," said Flyers coach Mike Apple, "I really thought Gateway embraced that, and played really hard, and I didn't think our team had that same mentality. Fortunately, we played well enough to squeak it out, but we were self inflicting ourselves a lot with a lot of situations that we shouldn't have been in."

Sophomore Ayden Gittens led the Flyers in scoring with 18 points, while sophomore Zach Riddle finished with 17 points and a team high 12 rebounds. Damien Robinson, Jamori McDougald, Isaiah Nelson, and Chad Kinch all scored in double figures as well.  

"I thought Zach Riddle played a really solid game," said Apple, "He did a really good job today." 

In the second game of the day, Patrick and Henry took down Camp Community College 64-62 in a defensive showdown.

"Both of these teams are deeper than Mountain Gateway," said Apple, "I think we took advantage of the fact that we had more bodies than they did, but we won't have that advantage tomorrow. We're going to have to execute well and defend." 

The Flyers and Patriots matched up twice during the regular season, with the Patriots taking the first 79-77 before having to forfeit the game. The Flyers won the second meeting 85-83.

T. Ratcliff