By Rob Potter
LOCH SHELDRAKE — November 20, 2001 – Following Friday night’s game, Sullivan County Community College mens’ basketball coach Chris DePew said he was disappointed with the way his team played.
Then he paused to look up at the scoreboard as workers cleaned the bleachers and swept the floor and the last fans filed out of the Paul Gerry Fieldhouse.
The scoreboard read: “Home – 83, Guest – 49.”
DePew admitted that most people would be puzzled when a coach says that he is unhappy with his team after a 34-point victory.
“We played awful, we didn’t perform anywhere near our capabilities,” DePew said of the Generals’ victory over the Teikyo Post University JV team. “I’ve been here four years and that’s probably the worst effort we’ve had in four years.”
DePew noted that the Generals “must have missed 10 layups in the first half” and looked very lethargic on the court against Teikyo Post (0-1), a Division II school located in New Haven, CT.
“I’m disappointed because it was the first home game and we had hundreds of people here tonight,” DePew said. “We played like we expected to win and that was good enough.”
DePew noted that SCCC (3-1) displayed flashes of good play, such as a one-minute stretch midway through the second half. At the 10:25 mark, Teikyo Post’s Aliek Riley scored on a lay-up to cut the SCCC lead to 52-38. That 14-point margin was as close as the Eagles had been since early in the first half.
But General guard Shiron Brown then made back-to-back steals near midcourt and converted them into layups. Following another SCCC steal and layup, General guard Dana Holmes drove to the hoop, scored the basket and was fouled. Holmes made his free throw to complete the three-point play and give the Generals a 61-38 lead.
That worked out to a 9-0 SCCC run in exactly a minute and 18 seconds.
DePew also praised center Tim Butler.
“Tim Butler came to play tonight,” DePew said. “He was great on the inside.”
Butler was just about unstoppable in the lane, scoring numerous hoops within about four feet of the basket. He finished with a game-high 26 points. The 6’7” sophomore center tallied 14 of those points in the first half.
Brown also reached double figures for SCCC, netting 22 points on the evening. Davon Wilson and Dana Holmes added eight and seven points, respectively. Former Monticello standout Andre Simmons, a 6’6” forward/center, had four points.
Teikyo Post had two players reach double figures. Christopher Bethune netted a team-high 15 points and John Greene added 12.
While DePew was not totally pleased with the Generals’ performance, they certainly impressed Teikyo Post coach Will Johnson.
“They are a very talented team,” Johnson said of SCCC. “They’re very athletic.”
Johnson noted that his team “had our chances” to comeback, cutting the lead down to 16 points and then 14.
“We’re a young team and we’re still learning to play together,” Johnson said. “We’ll get better as the year goes on.”
DePew is looking for improvement from his squad as well.
“Our goal was to hold them under 50 points, which we did but we gave up too many easy baskets,” DePew said. “We didn’t play up to our potential. And that’s my fault, maybe I’m not pushing the right buttons in practice.”
The Generals will have a chance to show that potential in their next game, which is scheduled for this evening. SCCC will visit Rockland Community College in Suffern at 7 p.m. tonight.
“We have to go back to the drawing board,” DePew said. “If we play like this against Rockland, they’re going to whip us.”