No. 3 Flyers vs No. 1 Storm on New Year's Day – Get Your Tickets
Sandhills Community College men's basketball teams have taken the court as the No. 1 ranked Division III team in the nation numerous times in the program's history, including three times this season.
On New Years Day at The Hangar, the roles will be reversed when the No. 3 Flyers (10-2) entertain long-time rival, and currently undefeated Davidson-Davie CC (11-0), the No. 1 ranked team in Division II.
With a large crowd anticipated, tickets will be on sale at the John Dempsey Student Center today through Saturday from noon until 4 p.m.
Sunday's tip-off time is 3 p.m. The gates open at 2 p.m. for the ESPN + NJCAA Game of the Week. The game will be streamed live via the ESPN+ app. The ESPN + subscription will also make available an on-demand playback. The sports network will bring a production crew of nine, including game announcers Jake Levy and J. Killian McClatchey.
Also on Wednesday, the Flyers held the first of four practices in preparation for the game, following the holiday break.
"Christmas is really a chance to recharge the batteries, get away from the grind and hopefully come back ready to roll," Coach Mike Apple said on Tuesday. " When you play the No. 1 team in the nation, an undefeated team, you have an opportunity to knock them off. I certainly hope our guys are excited about that and ready to play that role.
"A lot of teams teams have come into our gym looking to knock off Sandhills. We're looking to knock off Davidson and we certainly want to play that way. We hope all the Flyer faithful that want to come to the game get tickets in advance so they are not left out at the door."
The two teams first met in January of 2009 during the inaugural season of Flyers basketball led by Coach Aaron Denton. They have faced each other more than 30 times since then, battling for Region 10 supremacy each year until the 2017-2018 season when the Storm moved up to Division II.
The Storm enjoyed a large edge over the Flyers in regular season games while both were in Division III, but the Flyers won three of the four Region 10 title contests between the two teams. In the 2020-21 year of Covid, when both teams competed in Division ll and qualified for the national tournament, the Storm defeated the Flyers four times, including a regular season game when the Storm were ranked No. 2 and the Flyers were No. 7.
When they last met on New Year's Day a year ago in Thomasville, the Storm prevailed 96-56 in the middle of a season that ended with a 79-63 loss to South Suburban CC in the final game of the Division II national championships.
The Flyers have won all six of their contests against Division II opponents this season, but Apple knows his team will have to perform at a high level to upset the Storm.
"Another thing that is important about this game is that we're going to play a really good team and we have region, district and national championship aspirations," the coach said. "In order to do those things you have to be able to compete at a high level. Playing a team like Davidson forces you to do that. I hope the guys are up to the challenge because I think it can do nothing, but make us a better team."
Both teams defeated Wake Tech, their one common opponent so far this season. The Flyers were 89-87 winners over Division II Pitt CC in their final test before the holidays.
The leading scorers for the Storm are Jahlen King (16.3 ppg) and Chase Mebane (14.5). The Flyers have five double-digits scorers led by Joey McMullin (14.1) and Bryan Quiller (12.4). With an extra year of eligibility due to Covid this will be the fifth time Quiller has played against the Storm.
The Flyers are second in Division III in average points per game (103.4) and the Storm are 8th in Division II (95.8).
by Charlie Bergmann
photo by Donna Ford