The following sports editorial was written by Amy Brown, assistant to the athletic director, and was submitted by Jeff Price, athletic director.
The Sinclair men’s basketball team (18-3, 3-1) hosted Lakeland (10-9, 2-2) who handed them their first conference loss in overtime at Lakeland. Sinclair is now ranked eighth in the nation for the eighth consecutive week and coming off with road wins at Columbus State and Edison. Sinclair Head Coach Jeff Price and Lakeland Head Coach Terry Bowe joined together on Jan. 25 to raise awareness about the fight against cancer as they both sported suits and sneakers as part of the Coaches vs Cancer Suits and Sneakers weekend.
The first half was much like the game at Lakeland — close, with every basket being contested and every rebound being hard-fought. Lakeland hit first, getting an underneath bucket and taking a 2 – 0 lead. The first half was a physical battle and Sinclair came out on top leading at halftime 32 – 30. PJ Weaver led Sinclair with 13 points in the first half and he also grabbed five rebounds.
The second half remained close with Lakeland starting to pull away until Deiontay Walters and Ramar Hairston hit back-to-back three-pointers and trailed by three with 10 minutes to play (53 – 50). Sinclair pulled to within one point off of a Deiontay Walters shot, 53 – 52. As the game started to wind down, Trace Cureton hit a three and put Sinclair up by four with less than five minutes to play, and PJ Weaver followed, hitting another three and Sinclair took a 64 – 59 lead. Trace Cureton hit another three to put Sinclair up 67 – 63 with one minute, 35 seconds remaining before Lakeland started to foul. Lakeland was able to pull to within one point at 74 – 73 with seven seconds remaining and the ball at center court. Lakeland missed their final attempt and Deiontay Walters collected the rebound and was immediately fouled, making both free throws to end the game.
Sinclair survived a tough battle defeating Lakeland 76 -73. Sinclair shot 70.8 percent from the free throw line in the second half as well as shooting 71.4 percent from the three point line.
Leading scorer for Sinclair was PJ Weaver (6-5/SO – Meadowdale H.S., Dayton, OH) who put up 21 points and grabbed six rebounds. Other top scorers included Deiontay Walters (5-10/FR – Princeton H.S., Cincinnati, OH) who tallied 12 points and had three assists. Trace Cureton (6-4/SO – Cathedral H.S., Indianapolis, IN) recorded 11 points and snatched five rebounds. Conner Myslowski (6-4/FR – West Carrollton H.S., West Carrollton, OH) led the team with nine rebounds and added five points. Ashier Poole (6-0/FR – Benedictine highschool, Cleveland, OH) led the team in assists dishing out four and adding six points.
Sinclair will be on the road for the next three games and then will finish the season off with five consecutive home contests. The next home game will be on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2014 when they face Edison at 7:30 p.m. following the women’s game at 5:30 p.m. All home games are held at Sinclair Community College in the gymnasium in Building 8.