Sophomore Night Victory Sends Flyers into Region X Tournament on Seven-Game Winning Streak
On a night that nine sophomores were honored before the tip-off, the Sandhills Community College basketball team defeated Mt. Zion Prep 108-63 for its seventh win in a row.
Led by sophomore Shane Garrison and freshman Tavarus Peterson with 14 points each, the Flyers took command early against the undermanned Warriors. Sophomores Parrish Stevons and Johnny McFadden, and freshmen Donnie Haith and Chase Morrissette-Barnett, chipped in with 10 points apiece.
The Flyers made a season-best 63.2 per cent of their shots from the field (43-for-68). They also sank 80 per cent of their free throws (16-for-20).
The regular season now behind them, the Flyers (25-5 overall, 7-2 conference) have four days to prepare for Saturday's 3 p.m. Region X Tournament semi-final game at Wake Tech against Central Carolina CC (11-17, 2-7). They defeated the Cougars three times during the regular season.
Davidson County CC (20-6, 8-1) and Johnston CC (6-23, 1-8) meet at 1 p.m. in the other semi-final. The winners advance to the championship game at 1 p.m. on Sunday, also at Wake Tech, with a berth in the District VII tournament at stake.
Following the game, Flyers' coach Mike Apple's first thoughts about the sophomores that have helped contribute to a two-year record of 51-11 to date, were about the academic side of the ledger.
"We've got nine sophomores that are finishing up at Sandhills," he said. "Seven are going to graduate in May and the other two are scheduled to graduate this summer. I think that speaks volumes about where we have come as a basketball program.
"We have good basketball teams, certainly, but our guys also understand the importance of their academics. I'm pretty proud of that."
Sophomore Emmanuel Merriweather got the rout started by putting back a teammate's miss and then scoring on a floater. He also scored the last two baskets of the half on a layup and a three to give the Flyers a 59-25 lead at halftime.
Earlier, upstairs at the Dempsey Student Center, Danny Barrett , Bobby Bridgers and Jim Halstead were inducted into the Sandhills CC Athletics Hall of Fame.
They were honored again at halftime with athletic director Aaron Denton making the introductions at center court. Barrett and Bridgers were teammates on the 1973 and 1974 golf teams during the Spartans era of sports at the college. Halstead made his contributions to Spartan athletics as a baseball coach, Dean of Students and Senior Vice President over 24 years of service.
Sophomore Mason Harrell and Haith combined to score the first 10 Flyers' points of the second half. The team went over the 100 mark for the 18th time this season on a three-point play by Morrissette-Barnett with 3:44 left in the game.
The other sophomores participating in their final game at the Hangar included Luke Moore, Malik McCrimmon, Juwaan Childs and Jake Murdock. A product of Fuquay-Varina High School, the 6-foot-4 Murdock scored five points and had another basket taken away when he was called for offensive goaltending while finishing a teammate's miss. He has enjoyed receiving more playing time during the recent winning streak. Following graduation he plans to pursue a degree in communications at East Carolina University.
"Just the hard work," he said of what he has gotten from the experience on and off the court at the college. "Sandhills is a great place to come to every day, plus being around the guys."
Flyer Notes – Stevons has scored in double-figures in 24 of the 27 games he has played and leads the team with a 14.0 average. Also averaging in double-figures for the season are Harrell (12.9) and Haith and Morrissette-Barnett (10.5). Former Flyer Ishmael Baldwin scored a personal St. Augustine career-high 14 points in a 55-52 loss to Shaw on Saturday. Also on Saturday, another alum, Josh Smith, was 5-for-10 from behind the arc and matched his season-high of 17 points in Fayetteville States' 67-64 loss to Winston-Salem State.
Mt. Zion – Mattera 6 0-6 13, Lake 3 5-5 11, Hancock 10 3-3 26, Tyler 3 0-0 7, Rumbley 3 0-0 6, Choubey 0 0-0 0 Totals 25 8-14 63. Sandhills – Stevons 3 4-4 10, Merriweather 4 0-0 9, McCrimmon 0 2-2 2, Childs 0 0-0 0, Garrison 6 2-3 14, Clarkson 2 0-0 5, Sexton 1 0-0 2, McFadden 4 0-0 10, Haith 5 0-0 10, Peterson 7 0-0 14, Moore 1 0-0 3, Morrissette-Barnett 3 4-5 10, Copeland 1 2-2 4, Murdock 1 2-2 5, Grissett 1 0-0 2, Harrell 4 0-2 8 Totals 43 16-20 108. Three-point goals: MTZ 5 (Hancock 3, Tyler, Mattera); SCC 6 (McFadden 2, Merriweather, Clarkson, Moore, Murdock).
by Charlie Bergmann
photo by Donna Ford