The Sinclair Community College men’s and women’s basketball teams were rewarded for their good record in conference play with home first round playoff games.
On March 1, the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) District XII tournament began, and the top four seeds of the conference got a home playoff game for the first round of the tournament.
Seeding in the tournament was determined by records in conference play, rather than overall records. Sinclair’s men were ranked fourth in the conference with a 7-5 record (20-8 overall), and played Lakeland Community College, the fifth seed.
This was the third time these two teams faced off, with Sinclair defeating them the other two times. The first match up Sinclair won in Lakeland 77-74 on Jan. 1, and also won 74-66 on Feb. 26.
Coach Jeff Price believed that his team was ready for the challenge against a familiar foe.
“We already beat them twice earlier in the season, and it’s tough to defeat a team three times in year,” Price said. “But our game plan worked twice so we stuck with it.”
Lakeland had a run at the end of the first half, never looked back, and won 85-63 to advance to the second round.
The difference in the game was the shooting. Sinclair shot only 32 percent from the field against Lakeland’s 52 percent.
“There was no way we could of stopped them inside, so we decided to play man and focus our defense on stopping their perimeter players,” Price said. “But this game they just started making shots and everything went downhill from there.”
Lakeland’s two top perimeter players, William Powell and Alex Sullivan, shot a total of 21 percent from the field and 19 percent on threes in the two losses. During the tournament win, they shot 45 percent from the field and 44 percent from threes.
“When the other team misses shots, you get more transition opportunities,” Price said. “We lost about 8-12 points on transition, and that helped get us out of our flow.”
Regardless of the outcome. coach Price said he is very proud of his team and how they played this season.
“We had a lot of inexperience, every player on our team was a freshman except for one,” Price said. “So there was a steep learning curve, and three months in the season we we’re still learning sets. For us to win 20 games in a season shows how hard our players practice and played during the season.”
Sinclair player Darrien Wilkens was named first-team All-Conference and was voted third for conference MVP voting. The top two in MVP voting are up for All-American consideration. Patrick Crawford and Mark Allen were voted for All-Conference honorable mention.
“We have some very talented players, and throughout the season they grew so much,” Price said. “Some of our players will move on to Division-1 schools, which is the way we look at success here. We want to help our players move on to four year schools and finish out their education.”
Sinclair women in the postseason
The Lady Tartans were also ranked fourth in the conference with a 6-6 record (16-8 overall), and played the fifth seeded Columbus State Community College Cougars.
Sinclair and Columbus State played twice this season, with Sinclair winning both games. On Feb. 12 Sinclair won 78-72 in Columbus and 83-72 at home on March 1.
At the end of the first half, Sinclair was ahead 40-29, and kept that lead throughout the game with a 83-72 win.
Coach Jeff Dillon said that their team was ready to play, and looks forward for the chance to move one.
“We are a transition team, and we started to hit shots,” Dillon said. “We have the talent to play with anyone in the nation if we play our game and we’re excited for the chance to continue on in the conference tournament.”
At press time, the Lady Tartans did not begin their conference tournament games yet. Check www.sinclairclarion.com Monday afternoon for a recap of their tournament game.