Flyers Fall to Storm in District Final - Learn Seeding for Nationals on Monday

The Sandhills Community College basketball team bounced back from a 14-point first-half deficit to take the lead before falling 93-83 to Davidson-Davie CC in the South Atlantic District Championship game on Saturday in Thomasville.

Trailing 23-9 at one point in the first half, the Flyers rallied to take their first lead at 33-32 on jumper by Corry Addison. They went on to lead by as many as four points in the second half. The game was tied for the last time at 70-70 with eight minutes remaining on a three by by the Flyers' Nathan Yow.

The No. 7 nationally ranked Flyers (19-4) and No. 2 Storm (20-2) will now prepare for the NJCAA Division II National Championship on April 20-24 in Danville, IL. The seedings for the field of 16 teams will be announced via live-stream at njcaa.org/network on Monday at 12:30 p.m.

"I think it was great preparation for what we have to do in Illinois," said Flyers' Coach Mike Apple, who took his team to the Division III national tournament the past two years, winning it all last March. "We played one of the best teams in the country on their court and played them tooth and nail for the majority of the game.

"Congratulations to Davidson. They beat us three times this year. They've got a really good team."

Two baskets by Derreco Miller, and three in a row by Keegan Brayboy, added up to a 10-2 run that cut the double-digit Storm lead to 25-19 midway through the first half. Later, a three-point play inside by Bryan Quiller, and a basket by Addison, gave the Flyers their first lead at 33-32.

The Storm took a 48-46 advantage into the intermission, but with the game tied at 55-55, Savion Staton fed Quiller, and then Miller, for dunks on consecutive possessions, making it 59-55.  Later, a basket by Camron Zachary, from Nasir Johnson, and then a dunk by Dharyus Thomas in transition, made it 63-59 Flyers at the 12:50 mark.

Following the 70-70 deadlock, the Storm scored five points in a row to move ahead for good. The Flyers were still in the hunt, trailing 82-79 after a basket by Quiller with 2:40 remaining.  Missed free throws, a technical foul and a sequence where the Storm scored on their third chance, hurt the them down the stretch.

"I felt good at halftime because they opened on us like they did at our place and we fought back and got back into the game," Apple said. "I felt good into the second half. Missing a couple of free throws like we did and me getting a technical foul, which is inexcusable, hurt our team and that was part of the reason we lost."

Among the leaders in the nation in both free throw percentage and free throws made, coming into the game, the Flyers were 10-for-23. The Storm were awarded a total of 42 free throws and outscored them by 18 points from the charity stripe.

"You have to make shots and make free throws in big games like this and we didn't quite do either one the way we needed to win the ball game," Apple said.

Quiller led the Flyers with 15 points. Miller's scored 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Addison contributed 13 points, five rebounds, seven assists and four steals.

As of Saturday evening, with an at large team to be named on Monday, the other 13 qualifiers for the national tournament include: John Wood, IL (16-6), North Central Missouri (17-6), Garrett, MD (14-0), Oakland, MI (11-6), Mott, MI (13-4), South Suburban, IL (18-4), Southeast, NE (13-7), Des Moines Area, IA (17-5), Iowa Lakes, IA (18-7), Johnson County, KS (15-4), Southern Arkansas University Tech (16-4) and Dallas College-Richland, TX (15-2).

Sandhills CC – Staton 1 3-5 5, Addison 6 0-3 13, Brayboy 4 0-0 9, Miller 6 2-6 14, Quiller 6 3-3 15, Johnson 2 0-2 5, Yow 1 2-2 5, Thomas 4 0-1 9, Zachary 4 0-1 8, Murr 0 0-0 0, Boyd 0 0-0 0 Totals 34 10-23 83. Davidson-Davie CC – Jones 6 7-13 20, Rogers 5 2-4 14, Boulware 2 6-8 10, Pruett 4 5-6 14, Baltimore 3 6-7 12, Williams 0 1-2 1, Suggs 4 0-0 11, Ross 2 1-2 5, Thompson 1 0-0 2, Mebane 1 0-0 2, Dupree 1 0-0 2, Tillman 0 0-0 0 Totals 29 28-42. Three-point goals – SCC 5 (Addison, Brayboy, Johnson, Yow, Thomas); DDCC – 7 Suggs 3, Rogers 2, Jones, Pruett).