Flyers Put Away S4G with a Big Second Half

Heading into the 2017-18 season, one of the biggest challenges for the Sandhills Community College basketball team was replacing the top three playmaking guards from last year's squad that won 26 games.

The Flyers improved to 4-0 on Friday with a 92-77 home victory over Shooting 4 Greatness Academy of Raleigh. Parrish Stevons scored a team-high 20 points to go with seven rebounds and three assists. Point guards Casey Clarkson and Donnie Haith split the 40 minutes and combined for 28 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

"DeAngelo (Harris), Christian (Lathan) and Zezva (Liluashvili) are big role models for me," Clarkson said after scoring a season-high 16 points. "I learned from them at each and every practice last season when I was a red-shirt. They paved the way for me."

Coach Mike Apple's squad returns to action at 1 p.m. on Saturday against Wake Tech (2-1) a 112-107 winner over Central Carolina CC in Friday's opening game at Heins Gymnasium. S4G and Central Carolina face each other at 3 p.m.

Points were much harder to come by in the first half of the second game of Friday's doubleheader that included a combined 11 blocked shots by the two teams. Midway through the period a pair of free throws by Clarkson gave the Flyers a 13-11 lead. Two threes by Stevons helped widen the gap to 31-25 at the intermission.

"We were getting into our offense real slow," Clarkson said. "In the second half we picked it up and it gave us great momentum."

Six minutes into the second half, Damauri Sexton went coast-to-coast with a rebound to give the Flyers their first double digit lead at 44-34. But the visitors had reduced the margin to 56-51 with about eight minutes remaining when Haith fed Stevons for a three.  He then went on to score 10 of his 12 points in the game.

"I had some anger coming into the second half because we had only scored 31 points," the product of Pinecrest High School said. "I came out ready to play hard and whatever it took I was going to do it."

 Chase Morrissette-Barnett scored 11 of his 13 points in the game over that same stretch in what became a 61-point second half for the Flyers. The 6-foot-3 guard also grabbed a game-high eight rebounds.

S4G brought in a tall and talented team that includes players from six states and the District of Columbia. Coach Kyle Solomon's squad made only nine of 34 shots from the field in the first half.

"I play this team every year and it's a typical Apple team," Solomon said afterward. "We were playing with the ball too much and weren't making any shots. We just ran up against a team that plays together. We're still learning."

Flyer Extra – A product of Southern Guilford High School, the 5-7 Clarkson exceeded his point total for the first three games by two. "Coach Apple encourages me every day to shoot the ball," he said. "My mentality now is when I'm open to let it ride and everything will be fine." Says Apple, "Casey is a great floor general. He's not afraid to tell the other guys who they should guard and what defense they should be in." Haith's parents, his high school coach Ben Snyder and several former teammates attended the game. "It feels great to have people behind me all the time," he said. "They follow me everywhere I go."

S4G – Harvey 5 1-3 11, Tabb 0 2-4 2, Shabazz 6 4-9 16, Coleman-Graham 4 2-3 10, Loveless 3 1-2 7, Lomax 1 3-4 5, Wilder 3 2-3 8, Peterson 1 0-0 2, Tate 0 0-0 0, Person 2 0-0 4, Stephens 3 6-8 12 Totals 28 21-36 77. Sandhills – Stevons 8 1-2 20, Clarkson 4 6-7 16, Morrissette-Barnett 4 5-7 13, Garrison 2 1-2 5, Grissett 0 0-0 0, Sexton 3 2-4 8, McCrimmon 0 2-2 2, McFadden 2 2-3 7, Haith 4 4-5 12, Copeland 3 0-0 6, Peterson 0 1-2 1, Moore 0 0-0 0, Childs 1 0-0 2 Totals 31 24-34 92. Three-point goals: S4G 0; SCC 6 (Stevons 3, Clarkson 2, McFadden).

by Charlie Bergman

photo by Donna Ford