The Tartan Pride continue their historic start of the season following an 80-60 victory against Cincinnati State Technical & CC and a 110-88 win against Lorain County. No other Sinclair team has had this great of a start, mainly due to most of their players being sophomores and having the experience needed to perform this well.
The team headed down to Cincinnati to play against a team that Price has highly praised as being one of the tougher teams they’ve ever gone against. Price has said before, “Teams don’t just go down there and win.” Not only did they win, but they man-handled them and took all the air out of whatever game plan they had.
According to Price, the plan of Cincinnati State was to take away their best scorer in Reshardd Harris. And it worked, Harris only played for 18 minutes, though he put up 14 points in the game. What Cincinnati State didn’t account for was they have a whole roster that can put up points and shut teams down.
“Reshardd had two quick fouls in the first half and only played a total of four or five minutes in the first half—alright, congratulations. We have seven guys averaging double figures. You just spent all of your energy taking one of seven guys away,” said Price.
That didn’t stop the Pride from having a 22 point lead with four minutes left to go. All five starters reached 10 points or more, with Marcellous Washington leading with 16 points. Steven Perriere led the team in rebounds with 11 and Manny Powell Jr. had a double-double with 10 points and 12 assists.
Many teams have thrown different looks and strategies at the Pride in order to slow them down. That has failed and having efficient practices and know how in what Price wants is a big factor in the play.
“I think it comes down to guys who have been in the system for two years. The biggest thing is having guards that understand your head coaching philosophies. I don’t have to call anything out, they know what I want,” said Price.
The Pride are ranked third in the nation as of January 11.. However, Johnson County out of Kansas has lost since the last rankings which should put Sinclair as the second ranked team in the NCJAA Division II.
Price isn’t commenting on whether or not the Pride deserves to be number one of if they should be named the best in Division II.
“It isn’t up to me. I’ll tell you what I think at the end of the year,” said Price.
Matthew Summers
Sports Editor