Flyers Punch Their Ticket to Minnesota
A Sandhills Community College basketball team with Minnesota on its mind defeated Anne Arundel CC (MD) 108-92 at The Hangar on Saturday for the Mid-Atlantic District title and an automatic bid to the NJCAA Division III National Championship.
The No. 1 ranked Flyers (31-2) won their 15th game in a row against the upset-minded Riverhawks (9-17). They now await the announcement on the seedings and pairings for the national tournament to be held in Rochester, MN on March 11-14.
Following a first half that saw the lead change hands nine times, the Flyers poured in 68 points in the second to win going away. They were led by Sayaun Dent with 18 points and Tyrell Allmond with 17.
Coach Mike Apple's non-starters produced 55 points, including 13 by Cameron Richardson along with nine rebounds in just 10 minutes of action.
Eight members of the team will be making the trip to Minnesota for the second year in a row. The Flyers finished in fifth place there a year ago.
"I started hearing them talk about going back in August," said Apple who will be making his fourth trip to the national event in nine years at Sandhills. "It never gets old. I'm especially happy for our returning guys because they made it their mission to get back there."
Deep Flyer Squad Wears Down Determined Riverhawks
A Riverhawks squad that pulled two upsets in the Region 20 tournament to advance was determined not to go down easy. They battled the Flyers on even terms throughout the first half and early into the second.
Trailing 32-28 late in the half, a three by Corry Addison, and two baskets each by Evan Davis and Savion Staton, were included in a 12-0 run that helped the home team take a modest 40-36 advantage into the intermission. But with 13 minutes remaining in the game, the Riverhawks regained the lead at 58-56 on a basket by Joseph Chase.
A three by Nathan Yow triggered a Flyer response. Allmond followed with a pair of free throws and then turned an offensive rebound into a three-point play. He later took a charge and added baskets on another putback and drive for two.
"I said to myself that I'm going to try to make a difference until we get it together and that's what I did," the Pinecrest High School grad said. "I tried to score, pass, rebound, whatever I could do to get us in a groove and back straight.
"They had eight guys and I just knew if we continued to run they were going to get tired and the baskets were going to come."
Apple added: "Tyrell played really good during that stretch in the second half until we pulled ahead of them. He's got the ability to play very hard and be a game-changer and he was that today."
With seven minutes remaining in the game a three by Dent gave the home team its first double-digit lead at 79-69. Later, a tip-in by Richardson, who erupted for nine points in the last four minutes of the game, gave the Flyers their largest lead at 106-86.
"I knew I got off to a rough start and I want to go to Minnesota just like the sophomores do, the 6-foot-7 freshman from Whiteville, said. "We had to win the game and I knew I had to play my best."
High Seed Means High Expectations
The Flyers made 61.4 per cent of their shots from the field in the second half. Elijah Idlett contributed 12, points, nine boards and seven assists to the cause. Addison was credited with 12 points, five rebounds, eight assists and two steals.
"It's hard to deal with expectations sometimes and I don't think we played as well as we can today," Apple said. "Taking nothing away from Anne Arundel, I thought they played incredibly hard and shot the ball well and really gave us a lot of problems. We're going to want to execute better."
As a possible No. 1 seed in the tournament field of 12 teams, the expectations will be higher than last year when they were a No. 7 in a field of eight.
"It puts us in the spotlight," Addison, a freshman from Fairmont High School said. "We've just got to play hard knowing we have a target on our back and play like we have all season. We beat teams because everybody on the team contributes and I think that will help us down the road."
Other automatic qualifiers known after Saturday night games include Columbus State, OH (19-7) of the Great Lakes District and Eastfield, TX (26-6) of the South Central. Five more district finals will take place on Sunday.
Anne Arundel – Chase 11 2-2 27, Young 5 1-1 11, Cantrell 9 5-7 23, Wyatt 4 0-0 8, Jones 4 1-2 10, McGriff 5 1-1 11, Kern 0 0-0 0, Cavey 1 0-0 2 Totals 39 10-13 92. Sandhills - Idlett 6 0-0 12, Dent 7 3-4 18, Bryan 0 2-2 2, Addison 4 2-2 12, Miller 4 1-2 9, Ratliffe 0 0-0 0, Staton 3 0-2 7, Allmond 7 3-5 17, Yow 3 0-0 8, Bailey 0 0-0 0, Williams 1 2-2 4, Richardson 6 0-2 13, Davis 3 0-0 6, Medins 0 0-0 0 Totals 44 13-21 108. Three-point goals: AACC 4 (Chase, Jones); SCC 7 (Addison 2, Yow 2, Dent, Staton, Richardson).
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C. Bergmann
Photo By Donna Ford
