Flyers Come From Behind Again and Defeat Upset-minded Eagles
Trailing by eight points with 4:35 remaining in the game, Mylon Campbell and Isaiah Upchurch sparked a comeback, helping the Sandhills Community College basketball team defeat Emory Oxford 94-90 at The Hangar on Sunday afternoon.
The freshmen pair combined to score 17 points in that span, and also contributed at the defensive end, as the Flyers improved to 15-6 overall and 3-1 in Region 10. Playing for the third day in a row, the squad from Oxford, GA dropped to 0-6 in the conference and 8-11 overall.
Campbell finished with a team-high 21 points in 22 minutes of action. Damien Robinson contributed 20 points and a dozen rebounds. Other double-figure scorers for the home team were Antoine Piper with 16 and Upchurch with 12.
Two days earlier, the Flyers had to make up a 10 point deficit in the final three minutes to escape with a victory over J. D. Camp.
"We tend to do that," said Campbell, a guard, who was the leading scorer on Seventy-First High School's 3A state runnerup team last season. "We get down, but we always fight back. We never give up. As a team we just need to play defense. If we play defense, everything else will fall in place."
The Flyers have 7 p.m. home games against the Mount Zion post grad team and Franklin Prep on Tuesday and Thursday, respectively, before traveling to Georgia to face the Eagles again at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
The Flyers trailed the Eagles by as many as eight points in the first half before a three by Campbell helped close the gap to 49-47 at the intermission. Leading for most of the second half, the visitors expanded the margin to eight points at 80-72 at the 4:35 mark before Campbell and Upchurch led the rally.
It began with a pair of free throws by Piper, a three by Upchurch and two drives in a row for baskets by Campbell.
"The thing about Mylon is that he played for a state championship at Seventy-First so he's been through the wars and a tight game doesn't shake him up," Apple said. "He's working on his shot selection like they all are and I thought he took really good shots in the second half."
Later, tied at 87-87 with 25 seconds remaining, Kevin Gentry split a pair of free throws to put the Flyers in front. Leading 92-89 with four seconds remaining, one of the Eagles' was fouled on a desperation three-point attempt, but was only able to connect on one of three free throws. As time expired, Piper made a basket to complete the scoring.
One of the first people to greet Apple when he emerged from the locker room afterward was his coach when he played long ago at Union Pines High School, Bill Wade, a regular attendee at Flyers games.
"I get a lot of advice from my old coach," Apple said. "He told me that we bring out the best in people because we've done a pretty good job of doing things the right way for a long time. It's my feeling we could be better defensively and that's one of the reasons people are playing so well against us.
"We get everybody's best efforts and we got a great effort against us from Oxford. They did everything, but win the ball game, but our team is resilient. We have a great will to win and that's been on display this weekend."
Region 10 Standings – Patrick and Henry 4-1 (11-7), Virginia Peninsula 3-1 (12-5), Sandhills 3-1 (15-6), Camp 2-3 (8-10), Emory Oxford 0-6 (8-11).
C. Bergmann
