Flyers Hold Off Cougars with Clutch Free Throw Shooting

The Sandhills Community College basketball team scored its final nine points at the charity stripe to hold off a late Central Carolina CC rally and grab a 102-94 victory in Sanford on Wednesday evening.

Freshman Demyron Williams cashed in on six of his eight attempts in the final 53 seconds of the game after the Cougars cut what had been a 15-point deficit with 3:30 remaining to 93-88.  Ayden Gittens led five other Flyers in double figures with 21 points.

The Flyers improved to 20-7 with the win while the Division II Cougars dropped to 10-13. Just ahead is an important Region 10 game against Virginia Peninsula CC at 1 p.m. on Saturday held at Warwick High School in Newport News, VA.

With a conference record of 8-1, Coach Mike Apple's squad can wrap up the Region 10 regular season title, and the first seed in the tournament scheduled for February 23-25 at Sandhills, with a victory. The Gators are 4-2 in the conference and 7-7 overall.

It shouldn't have been as close as it was," Apple said afterward. "We squandered a lot of opportunities to put the game out of reach.

"Hats off to Central. They hit timely shots and got us to where we had to make some free throws to win a ballgame. A credit to our guys for knocking them down. Demyron came in and did a super job."

A trey, and then a drive for two by Damien Robinson, helped the Flyers get off to a 9-0 start. The Cougars didn't make their first basket until 13:30 remained in the first half. The Flyers led by as many as 16 points before taking a 49-35 advantage into the intermission.

Early in the second half, the Flyers took their largest lead at 61-43 on a three by Jamori McDougald. They led 91-76 with 3:30 remaining in the game when the home team made its move with a 12-2 run, leading to the clutch free throw shooting by Demyron Williams.

Other leading scorers for the Flyers were McDougald, 17, Robinson, 14, Zack Riddle and Isaiah Nelson, 11 apiece and Trey Williams with 10.

Following Saturday's game against Virginia Peninsula, the Flyers are idle for a week before completing regular season play with a 3 p.m. home game against Blue Lights College on Saturday, February 17.

"We want to go to Virginia Peninsula and win the conference championship," Apple said. "That's the goal."

C. Bergmann