Flyers Hold Off Pitt’s Second Half Rally

The Sandhills basketball team won 99-93 in a thriller over the Pitt Community College Bulldogs on Wednesday evening. The Flyers are now 8-5 on the season, while the Bulldogs drop to 2-9.

The Flyers were forced to play with only nine players, as the flu has spread throughout the team. 

"Those guys just always keep us encouraged, and we just really came together as a team tonight to pick up where those guys left off," said sophomore Ayden Gittens.

"We were really hyping this game up when we realized we were only going to have a few guys, with the idea that it would give everyone a chance to play that hadn't been playing," said Coach Mike Apple, "The hope is that it's a confidence builder. Mike Fee and Tre' Williams are two guys who both got to play extended minutes today that made the most of it and they're really going to help us out the rest of the season."

The Bulldogs took an early 8-0 lead, but the Flyers stormed back and took a 12 point lead into halftime. After extending this lead all the way up to 21 early in the second half, a long run out of the Bulldogs cut the lead all the way down to two points with about a minute left to play. However, a tough jumper from Gittens gave the Flyers some breathing room and put them up four, and the Bulldogs were unable to respond late, giving the Flyers the win.

"We have a hard time being consistent for two consecutive halves," said Apple, "We got up 20 in the second half and kind of relaxed, and to Pitt's credit, they never relaxed and kept coming at us.

Gittens also had three dunks in the first half, putting energy into The Hangar and setting the tone for the rest of the game.

"They really gave the bench a boost, and once the bench got more into the game, it gave us on the court a boost, and after that we were just able to play pretty unselfish basketball."

Gittens was the Flyers leading scorer with 23 points, followed by Chad Kinch with 21, who stepped into the starting lineup for today's game. Kinch also led the team with seven assists and five steals, while Damien Robinson's 12 rebounds led the team.

The Flyers travel to Virginia on Saturday where they will take on Mountain Gateway Community College in the team's final game of 2023.