By Ted Waddell
LOCH SHELDRAKE — January 29, 2008 — It took a while for them to shake off the rust, but the Sullivan County Community College (SCCC) Generals defeated the Dutchess Community College Falcons, 91-73, on Thursday night in a National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region XV basketball game at Paul Gerry Fieldhouse on the SCCC campus.
SCCC improved its season record to 11-4 overall and 8-1 in Region XV competition.
Three Generals scored in double figures to lead the team to victory. David Williamson paced the SCCC attack with a double-double of 23 points and 11 rebounds, while Bertram “B.J.” McDowell netted 21 points and Tyquan Moore had 10 points.
For the Falcons, Lamar Pittman scored a game-high 33 points. Johnny LaFrance and Aaron Mickler added 17 points and 10 points, respectively.
SCCC enjoyed a slight advantage at the free-throw line. The Generals made 12-of-16 (75 percent) foul shots, while Dutchess CC was only 10-of-20 (50 percent) at the line.
“I wasn’t extremely happy with our performance, but after having six weeks of non-playing, I’m satisfied,” SCCC Coach Chris DePew said.
He said the Generals have a long way to go in the wake of the layoff, noting that they “didn’t get out and go and were kind of out of sync.
“We showed some strong signs of rust,” DePew commented. “It’s going to be a work in progress, it will come around. We’re going to be OK, we’re still very talented… we’re getting back into our roles and only good things will happen.”
DePew credited the effort of McDowell and Williamson with picking up the scoring load, along with his bench.
“The other guys came on strong at the end and gave us a nice little [scoring] run,” DePew said. “I got the opportunity to dump the bench and let everybody play and show off their stuff.”
Two of those SCCC players who came off the bench, Tim McKnight and Mike McNair, are new to the team this semester.
DePew noted that McKnight “is back 100 percent from a knee injury and provides instant offense at 100 miles per hour,” while McNair “is a pure shooter who will provide some instant offense.
“When these guys start catching fire and getting in sync, we’ll be pretty dangerous,” DePew said.
So what does the SCCC leader think about the current lack of a national ranking, even though the Generals are the defending NJCAA Division III national champions?
“I actually prefer not to be nationally ranked because there’s less of a target on our backs,” replied DePew, who was named the 2006-2007 NJCAA Coach of the Year after guiding the Generals to the national title.
“But Sullivan is always the team to beat in Region XV,” he added.