Flyers and Owls Vie for National Tournament Berth in Largo
The Sandhills Community College basketball team meets Prince George's CC on Saturday with the opportunity to qualify for the national tournament for the fourth year in a row.
The tip-off for the Mid-Atlantic District game between the Region 10 tournament champion Flyers (25-7) and Region 20, winning Owls (13-11), is scheduled for 3 p.m. in Largo, MD. Arrangements are being made for the action to be streamed live.
The winner earns one of eight automatic bids to the NJCAA Division III Championship held in Rockford, IL on March 9-12. In addition, a tournament committee will make four at large selections to complete the 12 team national tournament field.
In a Wednesday release by the NJCAA, the Flyers' Bryan Quiller was named the February 14-20 Division III Player of the Week. The 6-foot-5 forward scored 22 points and grabbed 26 rebounds in the team's 110-103 victory over Central Carolina CC in the Region 10 title game.
The Flyers are the reigning Division III national champions since there was no Division III tournament a year ago when they finished in sixth place at the Division II tournament held in Danville, IL.
The Flyers and the Owls have some history.
In March of 2020, Coach Mike Apple's squad defeated Prince George's in the district championship game at The Hangar before going on to win the program's second national title in Rochester, MN.
The Flyers will travel to Largo on Friday where the 2014-15 team defeated the Owls in the process of qualifying for that season's national tournament. They will hold a shoot-around at Novak Field House at 8 a.m. on Saturday.
Both freshmen-heavy teams were pushed to the limit, surviving overtime games in their respective region tournaments. Both play a lot of people and are strong rebounding teams.
Saveon Jackson, a freshman guard, scored 27 points in the Owls' overtime win over Pennsylvania Highlands. Anthony Perry, a 6-6 forward, was credited with 20 points and 10 boards in the Region 20 championship game against Anne Arundel.
"From what I've seen of them on film, they're very talented," Apple said on Wednesday. "I think they've had one of those seasons when you have so many freshmen it's hard to have great continuity and consistency.
"Anytime you go to Maryland and play a Prince George's team you can expect toughness, physical play and good guard play."
A key for the Flyers will be to tighten up a defense that allowed more than 100 points in the two tournament games for only the fourth and fifth times this season.
"We've been a good road team this year (10-3)," Apple said, "but this is going to be a situation where the stakes are higher. We need to be able to function and handle situations like that. It's a good learning experience for us.
"Our team has been resilient all year. This team does not like to lose."
The performance by Quiller, who missed the first 14 games of the season because of a broken bone in his right hand, was instrumental in the Flyers overcoming a 13-point second half deficit to defeat Central Carolina for the Region 10 championship.
The product of Cary High School leads the team in scoring average (16.9 ppg) and rebounds (8.6 per game).
"I think what we saw in the second half against Central Carolina was Bryan Quiller locked in and playing incredibly hard, especially, rebounding the basketball," his coach said.
Joey McMullin, a 6-3 freshman from Orange High School, who was named the Region 10 Player of the Year on Saturday, has connected on 57.8 per cent of his shots from the field this season and is second on the team in scoring with an average of 14.5 points per game.
C. Bergmann