Robinson Explodes for 39 - Streaking Flyers Wrap Up Region 10 Regular Season Title

The Sandhills Community College basketball team clinched the Region 10 regular season title with a 100-94 come-from-behind victory over Patrick and Henry CC in Martinsville, VA on Thursday evening.

Damien Robinson led the way with a career-high 39 points, including 24 in the second half. The No. 5 ranked in DIII Flyers won their ninth game in a row, completing conference regular season play with a record of 7-1 and an overall mark of 22-6. Other big contributors included Kendall Smith with 20 points and Mylon Campbell with 16, including 14 in the second half.

The Patriots, who will host the Region 10 tournament on February 21-23, dropped to 5-2 and 13-9.

Coach Mike Apple's squad completes its regular season home schedule with a 3 p.m. Sophomore Day contest against Shooting For Greatness Academy on Saturday.

Originally scheduled to be played on Wednesday, the Patrick and Henry game was moved to Thursday because of wintry weather in the region. Following a recent pattern of falling behind in games, the Flyers trailed the Patriots 31-15 midway through the first half. In spite of 15 first-half points by Robinson, and 13 by Smith, including three treys, the deficit was 10 points at the intermission

"We're living dangerously by falling behind by so many points in the first half," Apple said. "The thing that has saved us all year has been our team's resilience.  I think our depth is one of the reasons we've had success, wearing down the other team."

The deficit was 13 points at 58-45 early in the second half, when Robinson and Campbell began scoring baskets in bunches. The pair combined for a total of 22 points over the next seven minutes, helping their team draw even at 72-72 on a basket in transition by Robinson. Xavion White put the Flyers in front 74-72 with a putback, and the game was tied up four times before a basket inside by Robinson put his team in front for good at 91-89 with 2:58 remaining in the game.

With the team's second and third leading scorers in Antoine Piper and Isaiah Upchurch not available for the game, the big performances by Robinson and others came at just the right time.

"It was an incredible performance by Damien, and the contributions by Kendall and Mylon and others were sorely needed," the coach said.

Robinson and Zack Noel were each credited with 13 rebounds, and Mike Fee was the leader in assists with five.

The winner of the Region 10 tournament earns the right to host the four-team Mid-Atlantic District Tournament the following week. The winner of that earns an automatic bid to the national championship on March 11-14 in Herkimer, NY.

C. Bergmann