Sharing Flyers Prepare for a Steady Dose of Conference Action
Playing their first game in eight days, the Sandhills Community College basketball team shook off the cobwebs and defeated Hosanna College of Durham 111-76 on Monday at The Hangar.
Freshman Nasir Johnson led six Flyers in double figures with 22 points as Coach Mike Apple's squad improved to 12-2. On an impressive day of sharing the basketball, Keegan Brayboy accounted for eight of the team's 35 assists that tied a season-high.
"I think being off a week kind of told on us a little bit," Apple said. "I was pleased with the moments we shared the basketball because this team can be really good when it does that."
The Flyers are idle until Saturday when they take a 9-2 record in Region 10 into a 3 p.m. home game against Catawba Valley CC (6-4, 4-4). That begins a stretch of six conference games over a period of 12 days to complete regular season play.
Led by 6-foot-9 Branco Balingate, who finished with 18 points and 15 rebounds, the Warbirds stayed close until Flyer freshman Dharyus Thomas poured in all 14 of his points in the game over a 10-minute stretch. Included were four treys, helping his team take a 49-34 lead into the intermission.
Early in the second half, Brayboy fed Johnson for a three and a moment later Corry Addison for two, as the margin grew to 60-39.
From his reactions on the court, Brayboy was clearly receiving the most pleasure from the assists in a game he also contributed eight points and a team-high eight rebounds.
It all added up to a pretty good night's work for the 6-3 red-shirt freshman and product of Red Springs High School.
"Every night I'm going to play hard," he said. "If I can't score, I'm going to help in some other way. My grandpa says, that if you make everybody happy on the court there is a good chance you are going to win."
Later, two steals for baskets by Bryan Quiller were included in a 17-2 run that increased the margin to 30. The final points of the game came on a three-point play by freshman Zac Sledge.
Nathan Yow, one of four returnees from last season's national championship team, was one of the five Flyers to contribute five or more assists to the cause. Johnson, Thomas and Quillar were the others.
"Going into this game we knew they only had eight players," Yow said. "The biggest thing was to share the basketball and just play as fast as we can.
"I thought we showed spurts of playing really good tonight, but we obviously have things we need to work on. The thing we have to do now is have good practices and be prepared for every game."
The Flyers dropped one notch to No. 7 in this week's Division II rankings. Ahead of the them in the conference standings is Davidson-Davie CC (10-1). Fayetteville Tech (5-2) and Louisburg College (10-2) are other two loss teams. The Flyers are scheduled to play each of them during the next 12 days.
"From here on out they are all important," Apple said of the six games remaining. "The good news is that only two of those are away."
Sophomore Savion Staton missed Monday's game because of an illness.
"They all did well in Savion's absence," the coach said. "We just hope he gets better and is ready to go on Saturday."
Hosanna College – Singleton 3 0-0 7, Boulware 0 8-12 8, Balingate 7 4-10 18, McKay 6 4-5 16, Scott 6 5-8 18, Kolloli 0 0-0 0, Miller 4 0-0 9 Totals 26 21-35 76. Sandhills CC – Johnson 9 2-2 22, Addison 5 2-2 12, Brayboy 4 0-0 8, Miller 6 2-4 14, Quiller 5 3-4 13, Yow 2 2-2 7, Thomas 5 0-0 14, Zachary 1 0-0 2, Murr 4 0-0 10, Boyd 1 0-0 2, Murphy 0 0-0 0, Sledge 3 1-3 7 Totals 45 12-17 111. Three-point-goals: HC 3 (Singleton, Miller, Scott); SCC 9 (Thomas 4, Johnson 2, Murr 2, Yow).
C. Bergmann