Johnson, Miller Lead Flyers in Victory Over Lancers
The Sandhills Community College basketball team put together 10 and 11 point runs in the first half to pull away from Lenoir CC and rolled to an 87-60 victory in Kinston on Monday.
Led by freshman Nasir Johnson with 17 points, including three treys, and sophomore Derreco Miller with 16 points, the Flyers improved to 8-2 in Region 10 and 9-2 overall. The Lancers dropped to 0-6 and 0-7.
Ranked 13th in this weeks NJCAA Division II poll, Coach Mike Apple's squad heads toward the coast on Thursday for a 7 p.m. contest against a Division I Brunswick CC team that is off to a 7-1 start.
Coming off Sunday's conference loss at Bryant and Stratton, the Flyers took their first double digit lead of the evening when Corry Addison fed Bryan Quiller for two baskets in a row, making it 25-12.
The Lancers responded by scoring the next eight points, but a putback by Savion Staton triggered an 11-0 answer. Later in the half, seven consecutive Flyer points by Jonah Murr helped build the lead to 49-26 at the intermission.
The home team made one more bid to make a game of it by outscoring the Flyers 22-7 over the first 5:30 of the second half. But eight quick points by Johnson, including a pair of threes, helped restore the more than 20-point margin.
With just under three minutes remaining, a three by Murr gave the Flyers their largest lead at 85-52.
Also scoring in double figures for the winners were Staton with 11, and Quiller and Murr with 10 each. Quiller was credited with eight boards to lead in that department and also blocked five shots. Addison led in assists and steals with six and five respectively.
Flyers Extra – Davidson-Davie CC at No. 7 is the other ranked Region 10 team this week. The Storm and Fayetteville Tech both lead the Flyers in the loss column in conference play with one each. The season came to an end for former Flyer Elijah Idlett last Friday when his Montreat College team was defeated in the semi-final round of the Appalachian Athletic Conference Tournament. He averaged 14.2 points per game (third on the team) as the Cavs finished with a record of 14-11. Donnie Haith, another former Flyer, scored 14 points on Saturday, helping Pfeiffer improve to 8-2 with an 86-80 victory over Methodist.
Sandhills CC – Staton 3 5-6 11, Addison 1 2-2 4, Brayboy 4 1-3 9, Miller 6 4-4 16, Quiller 5 0-0 10, Johnson 7 0-0 17, Yow 0 2-2 2, Thomas 1 0-0 2, Zachary 2 0-1 4, Murr 2 4-4 10, Boyd 0 0-0 0, Murphy 1 0-0 2, Sledge 0 0-0 0 Totals 32 18-22 87.
C. Bergmann