Flyers Honor Sophomores and Wrap Up Undefeated Regular Season in Region 10
Bryan Quiller and Joey McMullin each scored 23 points as the Sandhills Community College basketball team rolled to a 97-80 victory over Dabney S. Lancaster CC on a Sophomore Day Saturday at The Hangar.
The Flyers finished their regular season schedule in Region 10 with a record of 9-0 and moved to 23-6 overall. They take a 13-game winning streak into a 6 p.m. home contest against Combine Academy on Wednesday that completes the regular season.
Coach Mike Apple's squad will host Dabney S. Lancaster again at 7 p.m. on Thursday in one of the semi-final games of the Region 10 conference tournament.
Central Carolina CC and Oxford Emory face off in Sanford, also on Thursday, in the other semi-final. The two winners meet for the tournament title at The Hangar on Friday at 7 p.m.
Accompanied by family members, sophomores Darryl McCaster and Camron Zachary were honored before the game. They combined to score eight points as the Flyers jumped out to a 12-4 lead against the squad from Clifton Forge, VA.
Quiller and McMullin, who were a combined 21-for-27 on shots from the field in the game, led the way in the scoring department on the way to a 51-31 advantage at halftime.
The Flyers took their largest lead at 84-52 on a three by Kendall Wooldridge with about seven minutes remaining in the game against a Road Runners squad that lost all nine of its conference games.
The leading play makers for the winners were freshmen Chris Hunter and Wooldridge with 10 and eight assists, respectively.
Apple was disappointed in his team's intensity during a second half that wound down with the Flyers being outscored 20-6 in the closing five minutes of the game.
The stakes are high from here on out. The winner of the Region 10 tournament advances to a one-game Middle Atlantic District playoff in Largo, MD against the winner of the Region 20 tournament. That winner qualifies for the national tournament in Rockford, IL on March 9-12.
"I've been very pleased with our starters in the last two games," the coach said. "They've been ready and our defense has been good.
"I think we kind of scoreboard watch and get complacent when it's not a close game. I told them, that's going to hurt us in the long run. The good thing is we have another game on Tuesday and hopefully we will be able to work that out before the tournament stuff starts."
Both McCaster and Zachary earned academic recognition for their performances in the classroom during the fall semester.
A 6-foot-1 guard, McCaster joined the Flyers this season and has started 23 games after beginning his college career at St. Andrews two years ago. He enjoyed sharing Sophomore Day with family members and friends.
Averaging 11.2 points per game, he scored 12 on Saturday and added five steals to his team-leading total for the season.
"We're supposed to play with energy for the whole game," he said, concerning the team's recent second half letdowns. "We're up to the challenge. We've been in certain situations before and come out on top."
Zachary, a 6-5 forward, was a member of last year's squad that finished in sixth place at the NJCAA Division II national tournament. He has missed 13 games this season, and his minutes have been limited in some others due to a knee injury. The Southern Alamance High School grad finished the game with 13 points, missing a double-double by a single rebound.
"Sandhills is a great experience," he said. "I'm thankful for everything. It was nice to have my family here for one game because they didn't come last year and this year because of Covid."
Sophomores Quiller, Zac Sledge and Jordan Coleman still have another year of eligibility remaining via the NJCAA's Covid policy, arising from the interruption of the 2020-21 season.
Afterward, Apple talked about the two players who will be moving on.
"Darryl is our type of basketball player," the coach said. "He's a hard-nosed guy. He's really aggressive defensively and does a good job offensively, moving the ball.
"Camron is an excellent rebounder and that's a very underrated trait. He's been hampered by a knee injury, but that hasn't dampened that he's been a valuable contributor these last two years."
Dabney S. Lancaster – Rawlings 4 3-4 12, Hudson 6 2-2 18, Hamilton 4 1-2 11, Lasley 8 8-9 24, McCrary 5 3-5 13, Johnsen 0 0-0 0, Garrett 1 0-0 2, Baker 0 0-0 0 Totals 28 17-22 80. Sandhills – Wooldridge 5 1-2 12, Hunter 3 0-0 6, McCaster 6 0-2 12, Zachary 6 0-2 13, Quiller 10 2-4 23, Perry 0 0-0 0, Hanani 0 0-0 0, Coleman 2 0-0 4, McMullin 11 0-0 23, Sledge 1 2-4 4, Nelson 0 0-0 0 Totals 44 5-14 97. Three-point goals: DSL 7 (Hudson 4, Hamilton 2, Rawlings); SCC 4 (Wooldridge, Zachary, Quiller, McMullin).
C. Bergmann
