March 28, 2024

Early jitters don't impede SWCC's dream

Second half shooting sends Spartans to the second round

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Danville, Ill. – Southwestern Community College didn't start its first round game of the NJCAA Div. II tournament the way it wanted to, but thanks to 56 points and 57 percent shooting in the second half the Spartans advanced to Thursday's quarterfinals, defeating Dakota County 92-77.

Head coach Todd Lorensen wasn't surprised by his team's shaky start, knowing that everyone can be a little antsy when they first play on such a grand stage.

"100 percent think we were antsy. I talked about it at halftime. Anytime you’re in a tournament atmosphere like this, the first half you play, I always feel you do things out of character," said Lorensen. "It's human nature. I mean these are 18 to 21 year old kids."

The Spartans buckled down in the second half after Alijah Thomas hit all three of his free throws, following a foul on a wing 3-pointer. Khallid Edwards sunk a pullup jumper and Lorensen burned a timeout, igniting SWCC's bench.

Southwestern's 24-7 run in the middle of the second half – started by the sophomore guards' buckets – put the Spartans up 13 points after Terence Shelby Jr. found Ryan Warren open on the wing for a triple.

That was one of two Shelby Jr. assists, but he was much more influential on the boards, pulling down 20 rebounds and posting 15 points.

Warren helped bring the building to its feet when he found Chad Moran for an alley-oop slam that Shelby Jr. followed with a triple to put SWCC up 17 points late in regulation.

Moran scored just five points in the first half, but finished the game with 16. The freshman continued to illustrate how much this Southwestern team believes in each other, even when falling behind in at points.

"We just stuck to what we’ve been doing since day one. Coach has preached that. We don’t have to do anything different," said Moran. "Just keep doing what we’re doing and we will be fine."

Moran did pick up a flagrant one foul late in the game while trying to block a Blue Knight shot. Afterwards, Moran said he was just trying to make a play on defense to avoid giving up a dunk.

Edwards battled some foul trouble, but had 11 points in the first half and finished with a team-high 20 points on 7 of 9 shooting. Thomas added 13 points with five rebounds, two assists and a steal.

Spartan advantages

SWCC's defense may not have been as solid in the paint as Lorensen would have liked, but the Spartans held the Blue Knights to just 5 of 20 from beyond the arc.

Damario Armstrong hurt the Spartans a few times on his way to a game-high 27 points, but Dakota County didn't get much help outside of its starting five, mustering just seven points from its bench.

Southwestern's guard play, a key component to its success all season, didn't dissapoint and Dakota County head coach Kelly Boe took notice.

"They caught us in a situation where, you know when they go to that five guard lineup," said Boe. "It's hard for us, when we play our center, to matchup with them in that situation."

The Blue Knights threw a fairly effective 2-3 zone at the Spartans, but foul trouble and SWCC's strong second-half shooting forced DC to switch to man-to-man.

That's when the Spartans extended their lead and put the game out of reach.

"Guard play is really important especially in March in my opinion," said Lorensen. "If you don’t have good lead guards, it's really tough to win big games."

Southwestern's abiltiy to penetrate in the lane, hamstrung a short-handed Dakota County roster that has been playing with eight members since Christmas.

The Spartans got inside and quickly put the Blue Knights on their heels with foul trouble, that plagued them throughout the game.

Anxiety dissipates

Despite a first half that Lorensen may have anticipated, the Spartans only turned the ball over five times and still pulled down their fair share of offensive rebounds.

SWCC struggled to finish around the rim at times, but only turned the ball over 10 times.

The second half involved the Spartans going 20 of 35 from the field as a team, 6 of 10 from beyond-the-arc and a perfect 10 of 10 at the free throw line.

Depth is a strength for the defending national champions and expect the non-starters to continue to settle in after getting a game under their belts.

UP NEXT – Southwestern will open quarterfinal play with Erie (NY) Community College.

The Kats knocked off the national runner-up from last season, Louisburg 87-78 in large part thanks to Kasey Walker-Gregg and Shevon Anisca who scored 28 and 22 points, respectively while sinking a combined 16 of 23 attempts from the free throw line.

The Spartans scouted both teams beforehand, knowing that one way or another they were going to match up with one of them.

Lorensen knows his assistant DJ Jenkins has already put together a scouting report, but continued to emphasize that at this point of the year the Spartans need to stick to their abilities and what got them to Danville.

Tip-off for the quarterfinal is scheduled for 8 p.m. (Thursday). Updates can be found on Twitter (@CarterEckl) and on the Creston News Advertiser Facebook page (www.crestonnews.com).

Running score by half

SWCC – 36 92

DCTC – 33 77

SWCC (FG FT PTS) – Totals – 32 20-24 92. Khallid Edwards 7 4-4 20, Chad Moran 5 6-7 16, Terence Shelby Jr. 5 2-2 15, Alijah Thomas 3 6-7 13, Gatdoar Kueth 4 1-2 9, Ryan Warren 3 0-0 8, Rasheed Barze 3 1-2 7, D'Marqueyon Whittington 1 0-0 2, RoNeal Ross 1 0-0 2. 3-point goals – 8 (Shelby Jr. 3, Edwards 2, Warren 2, Thomas 1). Rebounds – 31 (Shelby Jr. 20, Moran 6, Thomas 5, Edwards 3). Assists – 14 (Barze 4, Kueth 3, Thomas 2, Shelby Jr. 2). Steals – 6 (Edwards 3). Team fouls – 17. Fouled out – None.

DCTC (FG FT PTS) – Totals – 29 14-21 77. Damario Armstrong 9 5-6 27, Harlyn Owens 8 3-5 19, Dontae Jones 6 2-2 14, Cole Murray 3 4-6 10, Martez Rodgers 2 0-0 4, Kieth Durham 1 0-0 3. 3-point goals – 5 (Armstrong 4, Durham 1). Rebounds – 35 (Owens 9, Murray 8, Armstrong 8, Jones 6). Assists – 10 (Owens 2, Jones 2, Armstrong 2, Rodgers 2). Steals – 3. Blocks – 3. Team fouls – 18. Fouled out – None.