By Ted Waddell
LOCH SHELDRAKE — March 4, 2005 – Mom knows best.
Barbara Nowlin, the mother of Sullivan County Community College Generals’ Assistant Coach Troy Nowlin, said her son predicted the Generals would rack up 110 points in their final regular season game against the Bulldogs of Berkeley College.
Last Saturday afternoon, “Down in the Bunker” at Paul Gerry Fieldhouse, the Generals proved that Mom is always right by proving Troy Nowlin’s premonition to be true. SCCC (22-6) pounded the Bulldogs, 112-52, in the non-conference game.
Despite a first half that SCCC Coach Chris DePew called “lackadaisical,” the Generals stepped up to meet their head coach’s expectations in the final 20 minutes of competition. SCCC outscored Berkeley 65-24 after taking a 19-point lead (47-28) into the halftime break.
All in all, it was a dog day afternoon for the Bulldogs, as Sullivan continued to rack up the points.
With 5:12 remaining in the game, Kevin Johnson put the Generals into triple digits as he scored the team’s 100th point with a jumper from outside the 3-point arc.
At halftime, Sullivan’s coaching staff honored the squad’s four graduating sophomores with a special mid-court ceremony that included presenting them with color posters made from game shots taken by Democrat sports photographers.
Those sophomores are:
• Greg “The Chosen One” Primus (captain): entered the game with 108 career points.
• Jonathan “Mooka” Bentley: a guard who DePew said is “known for his athleticism and jumping ability.” He took to the floor with 388 career points and 212 rebounds.
• Ghiles Jackson (captain): the shooting guard started his 31st game with 437 career points and 362 assists, which places him fifth on the all-time assist list at SCCC.
• Greg “Steph” Johnson: a player whom DePew praised as “a story of perseverance and determination.” He was named to the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Pre-Season All-American First Team and had scored 380 points in the 2004-2005 season going into the game against Berkeley.
Over the past 16 years, the Generals have captured three NJCAA Division III National Championships, have been the NJCAA Division III National Runner-up three times and have won 10 of the past 15 Region XV Championships.
Four SCCC players reached double digits in the scoring column. Ghiles Jackson and Greg Johnson each recorded a game-high 25 points, Kevin Johnson netted 16 points and Jon Frasier added 15.
Jackson led the Generals in assists with six and steals with four. Kevin Johnson grabbed a team-best five offensive rebounds, while Frasier and Dwain Joseph tied for the most defensive rebounds with four.
Berkeley had two players attain double digits. Cliff Destin scored a team-high 16 points and Durrell Rowe had 12.
SCCC was 21-of-33 (64 percent) at the free-throw line, while Berkeley made 7-of-17 (41 percent) foul shots.
“We won, and that’s good,” DePew commented.
The Generals’ helmsman said he figured that with Saturday being senior recognition day, his team would take to the floor “all jazzed up and ready to play… but they came out lackadaisical in the first half.”
“Execution-wise, we played pretty well,” he added. “They stepped it up in the second half.”
“I’m very proud of Greg Primus,” DePew said of the hoopster who probably played more minutes during the lopsided victory over the Bulldogs than he did in previous games during a season in which a few SCCC players without a lot of playing time called it quits and threw in the towel.
“He stuck it out because he wanted to be part of our tradition,” DePew said. “He’s all about willingness and determination.”