Flyers Ready For More March Madness
When the moderator of Wednesday's NJCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship Selection Show identified Sandhills Community College as the reigning DIII champion the Flyer players let out a roar.
Gathered in the Game Room at The Dempsey Student Center for the broadcast, the Mid-Atlantic District champion Flyers (26-7) learned they will be the No.7 seed in the field of 12 teams.
They are scheduled to meet No. 10 Joliet Junior College (26-4) in their tournament opener at 5 p.m. EST next Wednesday at Rock Valley College in Rockford, IL.
Winners of 19 games in a row during one stretch of their season, the Wolves were one of four at large selections after being defeated in the semi-finals of the Great Lakes District tournament. They played a regular season Region 4 game at Rock Valley College in January.
The Flyers were ranked 10th and the Wolves seventh in the final Division III national poll of the season.
Coach Mike Apple's team won the program's second Division III national title in 2020. Because of Covid, there was no DIII tournament a year ago when as one of only two former DIII teams in a 16-team field, the Flyers finished in 6th place at the DII tournament held in Danville, IL.
Taking his team to the national tournament for the fourth year in a row, and for the sixth time in his 11 years at Sandhills, Apple leads a squad that has won 16 of its last 17 games, including Saturday's 77-72 district conquest of Prince George's CC in Largo, MD.
"It never gets old," he said of the post season experiences. "It's been an exciting season with just a few more hoops to jump through with Covid.
"I think we're playing the best basketball we've played this year right now. It's always a good thing to be able to say that you're peaking at the right time."
Bryan Quiller, Zac Sledge and Camron Zachary are the only members of the team that played in last year's tournament.
"We're just a young group," says Quiller, who leads the Flyers in scoring and rebounding since rejoining the team in January after suffering a broken right hand in a preseason scrimmage. "Hopefully we can figure it out, and while we're up there, come out of it with a ring."
Making its first national tournament appearance, No. 1 ranked Riverland CC of Austin, MN (22-1) is the first seed. Also receiving first round byes are No. 2 seeded Genesee CC of Batavia, NY (22-4), No. 3 CC of Rhode Island (22-3) and No. 4 Dallas North Lake (22-7).
A first round victory puts the Flyers into a quarterfinal matchup against Genesee at 7 p.m. on Thursday. The tournament winds up with consolation games and the championship game on Saturday.
Chris Hunter is one of six freshmen members of the team who have had to play larger roles after several players, including starters, were sidelined during the season. The product of Cox Mill High School averaged eight points and a team-leading 4.5 assists over the last 11 games.
"At the beginning of the year I didn't think we'd get this far," he said. "Considering all the changes that happened throughout the year, it's nice that we're going. We're trying to make each practice better than the last one so we can win."
Markell Lotharp was added to the coaching staff in January, joining second-year assistants Tramaine Pride and Daquain Towns, who were his teammates on the 2012 national championship team.
An All-American selection that year, he finds it interesting that the three were also on a team that qualified for the national tournament by defeating Prince George's CC for the district title.
"I'm coaching now and we just beat the same team in districts 10 years later," he said. "It's kind of like a full circle kind of thing.
"This team has done a really good job of playing together to get to this point."
Tournament games will be broadcast live on the NJCAA Network.
C. Bergmann