Flyers Defeated by Montgomery County CC at National Championships in NY

The season came to an end for the Sandhills Community College basketball team on Friday afternoon with a 103-77 loss to Montgomery County CC in an NJCAA tournament consolation bracket game in Herkimer, NY.

The Flyers, a No. 9 seed, finish the season with a record of 24-11 while the fourth-seeded Mustangs, 28-2, advance to play Northern Essex CC, 31-2, in the fifth place game at noon on Saturday.

Trailing 16-8 after the first five minutes of action, a three-point play by Ayden Gittens and a three by Jamori McDougald helped the Flyers draw even at 20-20 at the 10:50 mark. After the Mustangs moved ahead by seven points, threes by Demyron Williams and Chad Kinch helped the Flyers cut the margin to 39-35 with 3:50 remaining in the half.

Kinch's three was the last basket of the half for the Flyers as the Mustangs took command with a 21-2 run that made it 60-37 at the intermission. The Pennsylvanians maintained at least a 21-point lead the rest of the way.

McDougald led the Flyers with 19 points. Isaiah Nelson with 13 and Zach Riddle with 12 were other double figure scorers for Coach Mike Apple's squad. Riddle also collected 11 rebounds. Sean Emfinger led the Mustangs with 32 points.

Dallas College -North Lake, and and Herkimer CC, were semi-final winners later on Friday and will play for the national championship at 5 p.m. on Saturday.  Riverland CC (MN) and Brookdale CC (NJ) will meet at 2 p.m. in the third place game. The Flyers qualified for the national tournament this year for the sixth year in a row, winning a national title in 2020 and a runnerup finish last year.

C. Bergmann