By Ted Waddell
LOCH SHELDRAKE — November 21, 2003 – It was back to civics class for the Senators of Ulster Community College.
And the Sullivan County Community College (SCCC) Generals stepped up to the podium as the teachers, defeating Ulster CC 90-49 Tuesday night in the first game of the 2003-04 season at Paul Gerry Fieldhouse. Hundreds of fans watched as SCCC dominated its Region XV rival “Down in the Bunker.”
“It was an old-fashioned butt-whipping,” Ulster CC Coach Ted Van Dyke said. “We just couldn’t get anything going and we had too many turnovers.”
Van Dyke said his team hung in there for the first few minutes of the game, but then the tide turned in the home team’s favor.
“The bottom line is we just didn’t execute,” he added. “We have a lot of work to do.”
SCCC Coach Chris DePew was all smiles on a couple of fronts: celebrating the win and the birth of his first child.
On Veteran’s Day 2003, a son, Dave Philip, entered the world of Chris and Heather DePew. The baby boy is 21 inches long and weighs 7 lb., 15 oz.
On Tuesday, he was probably the youngest fan watching SCCC (2-0, 1-0 Region XV) roll over Ulster (1-3, 1-2 Region XV).
Going into the early season game, the Generals were ranked eighth in the NJCAA Division III Men’s Basketball Preseason Poll.
“It’s always nice to win the first home game,” DePew said. “I was extremely pleased with our defensive effort.”
As the game clocked ticked down to the final buzzer, the Generals eased up on defense and started a bit of showboating on the offensive side of the floor. The team was 24-of-27 in the second half, mostly on layups. Between those layups and a few three-point shots, the Generals scored 53 points in the second 20 minutes of play.
Double digit scorers for SCCC were Darren Sykes (19), Gary Jones (14), Dante Griggs (13) and Keith Bussey (11).
For the Senators, Miguel Lopez netted 12 points and Kasey Harvey added 10.