By Ted Waddell
LOCH SHELDRAKE — December 14, 2007 — In last Saturday’s National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region XV basketball game between the defending NJCAA Division III national champion Sullivan County Community College (SCCC) Generals and the visiting Queensborough Community College Tigers, SCCC prevailed by the final score of 94-74.
Queensborough CC (7-3, 3-2 Region XV) jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first couple of minutes. But their advantage was short lived as by the 15:20 mark of the opening half, the Generals were up 11-3 and their rush to victory never stopped.
The Generals took a 21-point lead (51-30) at intermission, thanks to a successful 3-point shot in the final seconds of the half.
In the second half, SCCC (9-3, 6-0 Region XV) systematically dismantled the Tigers defense, going on to win by 30 points.
“We didn’t play that well and Sullivan did a very nice job,” Queensborough CC Coach Tom Sinnickson said.
“No. 42 is a terrific shooter,” he added, referring to SCCC sophomore guard Bertram “B.J.” McDowell.
Sinnickson specifically credited the effort of two of his players.
“Marko Budija stepped up off the bench, and Justin Davis is having a terrific season,” Sinnickson commented.
SCCC Coach Chris DePew, sporting his NJCAA gold and diamond 2007 Coach of the Year and National Championship rings, was very happy to get a win against Queensborough CC – especially since the Tigers recently recently beat the Westchester Community College team that handled SCCC a couple of weeks ago.
“I’m thrilled to death… they came in here playing good basketball,” DePew said.
As teams figure out that McDowell is a guy to watch, other players step up to make the shots. They are often fed the ball by their top shooter in the middle of a packed house under the glass.
“They were playing a box-in-one [defense] on B.J., not giving him an opportunity to get shots off, but our big guys stepped up and made things happen,” said DePew, citing the efforts of 6-foot-5-inch Robert Adon and 6-foot-6-inch David Williamson.
“We did a great job of distributing the ball, we’re starting to get comfortable with everybody and once our entire team gets comfortable with each other, we’re going to be very dangerous because we’re deep,” DePew added. “We’re just on the verge of figuring it out.”
Each of the 18 Generals got at least five minutes of court time during the victory over the Tigers.
Three SCCC players scored in double figures. Adon and Williamson each scored a team-high 20 points. McDowell netted 14 points, which included a pair of 3-point shots.
Double-figure scorers for Queensborough CC included Davis, who had a game-high 21 points, Anwar Boling (16 points) and Budija (15 points).
Stats from the free-throw line: SCCC was 22-of-31 (71 percent), QCC made 17-of-33 (52 percent).
Note: SCCC wraps up the first semester tomorrow with a Region XV game at Nassau Community College. Tip-off is slated for 2 p.m.
The Generals kick off the second semester on Thursday, January 24, 2008 in the second game of a men’s and women’s basketball doubleheader at Paul Gerry Fieldhouse.
The SCCC Lady Generals play Ulster CC at 5 p.m. and the Generals face Dutchess Community College at 7 p.m.