Addison Leads Flyers Past Trojans - Host the Storm on Saturday

Clutch play by Corry Addison helped the Sandhills Community College basketball team turn back a late charge by Fayetteville Tech and preserve a 96-88 victory on Wednesday evening at The Hangar.

With a record of 15-2 overall, and 12-2 in Region 10, the Flyers will play for a share of first place in the conference on Saturday at 5 p.m. when they entertain a Davidson-Davie CC squad that is 14-2 and 12-1.

Just over one minute remained in the game when what was once a 14-point Flyer lead was cut to 90-88 on the sixth three-point basket by the Trojan's Adam Carey.

Then, with a pair of turnovers by the visitors mixed in, Addison responded with a jumper for two, fed teammate Bryan Quiller for a dunk, and then sank a pair of free throws to complete the scoring. The sophomore point guard finished with 18 points and handed out 11 assists for his third double-double of the season.

Derreco Miller, another member of last season's national championship team, contributed 20 points and nine rebounds to lead the team in both of those those categories. Sophomore Savion Staton added 15 points. Carey finished with 26 as the Trojans dropped to 6-5 in the conference and overall.

Just two days earlier, the Flyers nearly surrendered a double-digit lead at Louisburg College before the team's veteran presence helped save the day.

"I attribute what we do to our returning guys from last year," the coach said. "If you recall, we had a lot of games like this during our national tournament run. They do a great job of finding a way.

"Our problem in the last two games has been we shouldn't have had to find a way. We should have been in control in the last minute of the ball games."

The Flyers were sharp at both ends of the court at the start. Quiller took two charges and Staton drained a three as they jumped out to a 7-0 lead. The advantage grew to 20-6 on a dunk in transition by freshman Dharyus Thomas.

But with the Flyers in front 40-30 with five minutes remaining in the half, the Trojans scored 18 points in a row to take a 48-40 lead. Two baskets by Addison, and a three by Staton, helped cut the deficit to 51-47 at the intermission.

Early in the second half, a drive for two by Addison tied the game at 53-53. Quiller took his third charge of the game and there were two more ties before Addison fed Camron Zachary for basket that put the Flyers ahead for good at 61-59.

Later, a pair of free throws by Keegan Brayboy made it 76-62 at the 11:50 mark, but the Trojans rallied again to make things uncomfortable for the home team near the end.

Addison, who is fifth in Division II with a free throw percentage of 90.9, is confident in his deep team's ability to be strong down the stretch of games.

"This is a very big week for us so our adrenaline is rising," the Fairmont High School grad said. "The conditioning we do in the off-season, and the way we practice every day shouldn't allow us to be tired at the end of a game."

Also on Wednesday, Davidson-Davie defeated Louisburg 83-73. The Storm defeated the Flyers 96-82 last month in Thomasville. The two teams have not met at The Hangar since 2018. 

"Sandhills and Davidson with something on the line, it's going to be a fun afternoon," Apple said of the battle between the No. 6 and No. 2 ranked teams in Division II. .

Flyers extra – Miller was 9-for-10 from the field and now leads Division II with a field goal percentage of 68.7. Quiller is twelfth in that category at 60.7 per cent. That pair along with Zachary off the bench combined for six assists. "Our chemistry has gotten way better and the passing between our bigs has gotten really good as well," Miller, a product of White Oak High School said.

Fayetteville Tech – Mack 2 2-4 6, Johnson 2 3-8 7, Carey 10 0-3 26, Gay 6 0-0 16, Eddie 2 0-2 4, McCallum 3 4-5 10, Jones 3 4-6 11, Lewis 2 0-0 5, Peyton 1 0-0 3 Totals 31 13-28 88. Sandhills CC – Staton 6 0-1 15, Addison 7 4-4 18, Brayboy 4 2-2 10, Miller 9 2-2 20, Quiller 5 0-1 10, Johnson 2 3-4 8, Yow 0 0-0 0, Thomas 4 0-0 9, Zachary 3 0-0 6, Murphy 0 0-0 0, Sledge 0 0-0 0 Totals 40 11-14 96. Three-point goals: FTCC 18 Carey 6, Gay 4, Lewis, Peyton, Jones; SCC 5 (Staton 3, Johnson, Thomas).

C. Bergmann