Flyers Defeat Lancers in Season Opener - Host Chatlee Classic on Friday and Saturday

Sophomore Jordan Coleman scored the first basket on a floater and the Sandhills Community College basketball team never trailed on the way to 90-79 season-opening victory over Lenoir CC at The Hangar on Wednesday evening.

The Flyers allowed the visitors to cut what was once a 19-point lead in the first half to three early in the second, making it 52-49 with 16 minutes remaining in the game. But Coach Mike Apple's squad went back to work and built the margin up to 22 points at 86-64 with just over four minutes remaining in the game.

In his first regular-season game for the Flyers, red-shirt sophomore Jaquan Thurman finished with a double-double that included 20 points and 11 rebounds. Other double-figure scorers for the winners were sophomores Joey McMullin with 19, LeNijel Robinson with 13 and Bryan Quiller with 10.  Sophomore Quantavis McKinney poured in a game-high 30 points for the visitors.

The Flyers are back in action on Friday and Saturday, hosting a pair of doubleheaders at the Chatlee Classic.

Friday: 5 p.m. - Anne Arundel CC (MD) vs Oxford Emory (GA)

           7 p.m. - Sandhills vs Shooting4Greatness

Saturday: 1 p.m. Shooting4Greatness vs Oxford Emory

                3 p.m. Sandhills vs Anne Arundel CC

A put-back by the 6-foot-2 Thurman gave the Flyers their biggest lead of the opening half at 40-21, but the visitors closed to 48-38 at the intermission. Leading 52-49 early in the second half, three points in a row by Thurman and a trey by freshman Ayden Gittens helped get the home team going again.

"Our guys are still figuring out how to be successful," Apple said on the subject of his team surrendering almost all of the large first half lead. "They get to feeling in certain parts of the game they can let their foot off the gas and it's going to be okay.

"The problem is that's never okay and every time we've done it teams come right back on us."

With 12 minutes remaining in the game, a basket in transition by freshman Jamori McDougald restored a double-digit lead the Flyers maintained the rest of the way. Later at the six-minute mark, another put-back by Thurman gave the home team its biggest lead at 86-64.

"That's just some of our inexperience showing," Thurman said of the team's lapses at times. "We'll practice some more and get more consistent as the year goes on."

A product of Hickory High School, Thurman began his college basketball career at Catawba Valley CC in 2018. He was 8-for-12 from the field in his Flyers debut. In addition to the points and rebounds he contributed three assists, a blocked shot and a steal.

"I thank my teammates for putting me in the right position to score the ball and the coaches for emphasizing rebounding," he said. "This was just a good team win."

According to Apple, Thurman made good use of his red-shirt year, practicing with the team.

"Jaquan was a steady practice player for us last year and he's picked up from where he left off," the coach said. "We call him an old man because he's kind of been through wars before and he's a good stabilizer for us."

The Flyers will face the Division II Lancers again on December 7 in Kinston.

Lenoir CC – Williams 2 2-4 7, Lipscomb 7 0-1 14, Dixon 4 0-0 11, Carroll 1 0-0 3, McKinney 12 4-5 30, Jones 0 2-4 2, Gibbs 0 0-0 0,Brown 4 3-5 12 Totals 30 11-19 79. Sandhills CC – McDougald 2 0-0 5, Coleman 2 1-2 5, Thurman 8 4-6 20, McMullin 9 0-0 19, Quiller 5 0-0 10, Kinch 0 0-0 0, Wooldridge 0 0-0 0, Hanani 0 1-2 1, Robinson 5 2-2 13, Stoltz 0 2-2 2, Gittens 2 1-2 6, Williams 0 0-0 0, Leslie 3 3-4 9 Totals 36 14-20 90. Three-point goals: LCC 8 (Dixon 3, McKinney 2, Williams, Carroll, Brown); SCC 4 (McDougald, Robinson, McMullin, Gittens).

C. Bergmann