Flyers Come From 22 Points Behind to Defeat Gators on the Road

Trailing by as many as 22 points in the first half, and by 10 midway through the second, the Sandhills Community College basketball team rallied to defeat Virginia Peninsula CC 96-88 in Hampton, VA on Saturday afternoon.

The No. 7 ranked in Division III Flyers improved to 5-1 in Region 10 and 20-6 overall with their seventh win in a row. The Gators fell to 3-3 and 12-7. The second of three conference road games in a row continues with a 1 p.m. game at Camp CC (3-3 and 10-10) at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

The Gators jumped out to an early 20-10 lead and increased the margin to 22 points at 44-22 with just over seven minutes remaining in the first half. As the half was winding down, a three-point play inside by Antoine Piper, and a three by Isaiah Upchurch, helped complete an 18-2 run that closed the deficit to 54-52 at the intermission.

The Flyers sputtered offensively at the start of the second and trailed 72-62 with 11 minutes remaining before, mounting another rally. A basket inside by Zach Noel got it started. Robinson, Piper and Upchurch then went to work, combining to score 27 points the rest of the way. The Flyers took the lead for good at 81-80 on a putback by Mike Fee with 4:28 remaining in the game.  Robinson, Piper and Upchurch each finished with 22 points.

C. Bergmann