Flyers Drop Into Tie for First Place in Region X with Loss to Davidson
Hot-shooting Davidson County CC defeated the Sandhills Community College basketball team 103-97 before a capacity crowd at the Hangar Saturday evening.
The Storm made 58 per cent of its shots from the field in the first half and 61 per cent in the second in the Region X contest. The Flyers dropped to 14-4 with the loss while the visitors improved to 12-5. The two teams now share first place in the conference with records of 3-1.
"They shot the ball extremely well and we did not," Coach Mike Apple said afterward. "They played with a much greater sense of urgency than we did especially early in the game and kind of established the tempo. It was a disappointment to have a great crowd of Sandhills supporters here and not play with great energy for 40 minutes."
The Flyers travel to Misenheimer on Wednesday for a 3:30 p.m. tipoff against the Pfeiffer junior varsity. They are back at home on Thursday for a make-up game at 7 p.m. against Hines Prep.
A three by Donnie Haith gave the Flyers their only lead of the evening at 6-5. The game was tied at 21-21 and 23-23, and remained close, before the visitors rode an 11-5 burst to take a 51-42 lead at the intermission.
During the halftime break members of the men's and women's cross country teams, and coach Jef Moody, gathered at the center of the court to display the Region X Championship banners both squads earned in the inaugural season of the sport at Sandhills.
About six minutes into the second half a basket by Ty Hill gave the Storm its largest lead at 71-54. But the Flyers rallied behind a pair of threes by Luke Moore and two three-point plays off drives to the basket by Tavarus Peterson. They combined to score 20 points overall between them during a six minute span to help reduce the margin to single digits.
Baskets by Zion Copeland and Mason Harrell cut the deficit to four points twice down the stretch before the visitors cashed in on free throws to hold off the home team.
"In the last seven or eight minutes of the game my guys made a good comeback and continued to play hard," Apple said. "When you get down to a good team it's very hard to crawl back in."
The Flyers were led in the scoring department by Harrell with 16 points and Peterson with 15. They made 45 per cent of their shots from the field overall. Tied at 1-1 in their season series they travel to Davidson on January 31.
Faces in the Crowd – Former Flyers Jeremias Easterling and Christian Lathan were on hand just three hours after playing for their St. Andrews University team in a 78-72 overtime loss to Milligan College. "We don't get to many games, but we had to come to this one," Lathan said. Easterling noticed that Chase Morrissette-Barnett was wearing his old Flyers' No. 24. "It gives me chills every time I come here," the Flyers' All-American said. "I wish I could put on No.24 one more time and play." Also watching the game was Daquain Towns, the tournament MVP in 2012 when the Flyers won their national title. The large crowd made the banner presentations even more special for the cross country athletes. "We were a brand new team and I don't think anybody expected anything of us," Sara Lindell of the women's team said afterward. "Being able to hold that banner with all those people there was awesome." Daniel Taylor, who earned All-American honors as a member of the men's squad that finished third at the national championships, looks for the team to build on the success next season. "It was really cool to know that as a team we came together and got a banner in our first year." Women's golf coach Herb Pike rarely misses a Flyers' home game. His team hopes to begin practice for the spring campaign on Tuesday (weather permitting) with a new player, Shirley Ou who came to this country from Beijing, China last year.
Davidson – Blakeney 0 0-0 0, Kelsey 0 0-0 0, Hill 6 2-3 15, Jones 6 0-0 12, Pierce 9 4-7 23, Perdue 6 0-0 13, Rothrock 6 7-8 23, Dunn 1 0-0 2, Wright 4 1-1 9, Turner 1 0-0 2, Dowling 2 0-0 4 Totals 41 14-19 103. Sandhills – Stevons 3 5-7 11, Haith 4 0-0 9, Sexton 6 0-0 12, Morrissette-Barnett 3 3-5 10, Harrell 7 2-4 16, Clarkson 2 0-0 4, McFadden 0 2-2 2, Peterson 4 7-8 15, Moore 4 0-2 10, Copeland 2 2-2 6, Childs 1 0-0 2 Totals 36 21-30 97. Three-point Goals: DCCC 7 (Rothrock 4, Perdue, Hill, Pierce); SCC 4 (Moore 2, Haith, Morrissette-Barnett).
by Charlie Bergman
photo by Donna Ford