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Fans who took advantage of Southwestern Community College’s Thanks(by)giving promotion Wednesday evening saw a record performance from the Spartans.
Fans received free admission through the promotion and saw the Spartans tie a school record from 1991 by sinking 16 3-pointers on their way to a 101-73 victory over Graceland’s JV team.
KeShawn Wilson led the charge for Southwestern with six 3-pointers and 19 points. TJ Bower finished with three 3-pointers, while Josh Tolbert and Terrance Smith each hit a pair of treys.
Five Spartan players finished in double figures scoring, while two others finished with nine points apiece.
“I remember KeShawn Wilson hitting three or four threes at some time, so he did a nice job,” head coach Todd Lorensen said. “Terrance Smith got out in transition a couple of times, so I’m assuming they both had decent nights as far as numbers go. I thought we did a good job against their zone. It was pretty laid back, but I thought we did a good job of passing up a good shot to get a great shot throughout the night.”
Southwestern struggled through the opening minutes of the game and trailed 19-16.
But the Spartans buckled down on defense and got things going at the other end of the floor, putting together a 20-0 run to take a 36-19 lead late in the first half.
The run included a Smith alley oop from Calvin Chambers and 3-pointers from Wilson and Bower.
“This time of year it’s tough to get your kids as focused as you would like, but I thought after those first couple of minutes where we didn’t execute as well as you want your team to do, we really settled in and did some great things on both ends of the floor,” Lorensen said.
When Chambers hit a scoop shot layup just before the halftime buzzer, Southwestern took a 47-25 lead into the halftime break.
Southwestern was never seriously threatened in the second half and was able to substitute freely.
One sequence in the second half saw Smith block a Graceland shot and hit Chambers on an outlet pass, who found Jordan Johnson in the corner for a 3-pointer in transition.
Simon Joseph finished with 16 points, while Chambers and Smith each added 13. Tolbert chipped in 10 points with Jok Kut and Bower scoring nine apiece.
Southwestern, now 8-2 overall, returns to action Tuesday at North Central Missouri in a rematch of Monday’s 86-81 Spartan win.
“When we come back, five of our next six before break are going to be against really good basketball teams,” Lorensen said. “Four of them are Division I junior colleges, including Indian Hills and then we go to North Central Missouri, who we just played and it was a close basketball game at home. So we’re going to have our hands full on the road.”
GRACELAND (73) — Jalen Brown 6 6-6 21, Cam Carter 6 0-1 15, Lonnie Campbell 4 2-2 12, Romeo Edwards 5 0-0 11, Beauchni Cherubin 2 0-0 4, Andrew Wintermote 2 0-0 4, JJ Waddle 1 0-0 2, Teddy Palmer 1 0-0 2. Totals — 27 10-11 73. Team fouls — 12. Fouled out — none.
SOUTHWESTERN (101) — Terrance Smith 7 0-0 19, Simon Joseph 7 2-2 16, Calvin Chambers 5 2-2 13, Terrance Smith 5 1-4 13, Josh Tolbert 4 0-0 10, Jok Kut 3 3-3 9, TJ Bower 3 0-2 9, Jordan Johnson 1 0-0 3, Dylan Mason 1 0-0 3, Ahmad Newsome 1 0-1 2, Josh Bolokor 0 2-4 2, Sergio Antelmi 1 0-0 2. Totals — 38 10-18 101. 3-point goals — 16 (Wilson 6, Bower 3, Tolbert 2, Smith 2, Chambers 1, Johnson 1, Mason 1). Team fouls — 11. Fouled out — none.
Graceland JV — 25 73
SWCC — 47 101