Williams, Yow Lead the Way as Flyers Win Eighth Game in a Row

Early in Wednesday evening's basketball game at The Hangar, Cameron Williams came off the bench and accounted for all of the points during an 8-2 run that gave Sandhills Community College a commanding 30-8 lead over Carolina Christian College.

"The first five minutes of the ball game was about as good as I've seen Sandhills play in a long time," Flyers' Coach Mike Apple said afterward. "We kind of took them out of the game to start with."

The No. 1 ranked Flyers made 69.6 per cent of their shots from the field, including a season-high 14 threes in 21 attempts on the way to a 137-68 victory over the team from Winston Salem. Eight Flyers scored in double figures led by Williams with 18 points to go with 13 rebounds.

"I give my guys credit for being ready to play," the coach said. "We didn't lose anything from the guys that came off the bench."

The Flyers improved to 24-2 and take a 4-0 mark in Region 10 into Saturday's 3 p.m. conference tilt against Oxford College of Emory University (12-10 and 2-3) in Oxford, GA.

Williams, a 6-3 sophomore, finished the first half with 12 points and seven boards as the lead expanded to 73-31 at the intermission.

It felt good," the Union Pines High School alum said. "Everybody was giving me good passes and I kept trying to finish."

Freshman Nathan Yow finished with 11 assists. He was credited with three during a span of two minutes that resulted in dunks for Williams and Cameron Richardson as the Flyers reached the century mark (100-46) with 12:25 remaining in the game.

Zion Bailey (2), Yow, Evan Davis and Winston Bryan all drained threes in the final five minutes of the game.

Williams was 8-for-10 from the field while seeing a season-high 19 minutes of action. He says that the team is very energized and having fun.

"That's the mentality we have because we want to get back to Minnesota (national tournament) this year," he said. "We're taking one game at a time to make sure we play with the same level of intensity the whole game. We can't let up."

Also scoring in double figures for the winners were: Sayaun Dent, 15, Elijah Idlett. 13, Bryan, Davis and Collin Medins, 11 points each, and Niem Ratliffe and Savion Staton, 10 apiece. Non-starters accounted for 85 points. 

The only player to hand out more assists in a game than the 11 by Yow in the history of Flyer basketball is Dre Huntley. The 5-4 guard, who completed his career at Johnson C. Smith, was credited with 12 in the Flyers' 101-86 win over Cedar Valley (TX) in the 2012 National Championship Game.

"I was just trying to find the open man, make the right play, get it to them and they finished," Yow, a Grace Christian grad said.  "So they helped me out on that one."

Carolina Christian – Brown 6 3-6 15, Young 5 0-0 13, Cunningham 1 0-0 2, Gray 3 1-3 9, Shabazz 3 5-6 13, Clemmons 0 0-0 0, Heaggans 0 0-0 0, Chambliss 0 0-0 0, Barbour 0 2-4 2, Mathis 3 0-0 6, Williams 1 0-0 3, Edwards 2 1-2 5 Totals 24 12-21 68. Sandhills – Idlett 4 2-2 13, Dent 6 3-3 15, Bryan 4 0-0 11, Addison 2 3-3 7, Miller 4 0-0 8, Ratliffe 3 4-4 10, Staton 4 0-0 10, Allmond 3 0-3 6, Yow 1 0-0 3, Bailey 3 0-0 8, Williams 8 1-2 18, Richardson 3 0-0 6, Davis 5 0-0 11, Medins 5 0-0 11 Totals 55 13-17 137; Three-point goals: CCC 8 (Young 3, Gray 2, Shabazz 2, Williams); SCC 14 (Idlett 3, Bryan 3, Staton 2, Bailey 2, Williams, Davis, Medins, Yow).

by Charlie Bergmann

photo by Donna Ford