Sinclair Community College’s men’s basketball team dropped their Oct. 6 home opener to the Clinton Junior College Golden Bears, 75-59.
The Tartan Pride were led by Darrien Wilkins, who scored a game-high 20. He hit 10 of his 11 free throws, grabbed seven rebounds and played a game-high 35 minutes.
Beyond Wilkins, the Tartan Pride struggled offensively. No one else on the team scored more than nine points, and the team shot just 36 percent overall.
No Golden Bear scored more than 15, but four different Clinton players scored at least 11.
“We lost, but we played up a division,” Sinclair coach Jeff Price said. “I thought our guys grew during the game. They have to see some adversity in a game to know how to handle it. They saw some of that against Clinton.”
The Tartan Pride turned the ball over 20 times, and the Golden Bears scored 20 points off of those turnovers. The Pride were out-rebounded 44-34, and the Golden Bears scored 15 2nd-chance points.
Price said the inexperience of his team and the quality of the Clinton defense led to the Tartan Pride turnovers. Price called Clinton “a very strong opponent” and potentially the best team they’ll face this year.
“I don’t think the guys played as hard as they are capable of playing,” Price said. “But that’s part of the process. Now they can see just what it takes to be successful.”
The Tartan Pride struggled in the first half but played better in the second, and at one point closed the Golden Bears’ lead down to three.
“We made some adjustments and they reacted well to them,” Price said. “That’s a good sign.”
The youth of the Tartan Pride will show up a lot, according to Price. He said a good example is the bad first half followed by a successful second half.
“I was very proud of the way they came back and handled some adversity. In the end, our youth did show. The goal is to correct these problems later on,” Price said.
Ultimately, this was only a non-conference game. Price said he told his players that losing this game won’t matter in the conference standings, and if they handle it the right way they can build off the loss.
“It’s a process, and we as coaches understand that,” he said.