Sinclair Community College Men’s basketball team returned home hosting the Commodores of Lorain Community College on Monday night ending the game with a 16-0 record. Sinclair moved up to #2 this past week in the latest NJCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Polls and with the 100-88 win over Lorain County (9-8/0-4 OCCAC), remaining unbeaten and at the top of the OCCAC standings at 5-0, but that wasn’t enough for the Tartans.
On Wednesday night, the men face on Clark State Community College. 17-0 recorded is all I can say to define Sinclair Community College men’s basketball team. Last night the Tartans proved to us why they deserved the undefeated record. With the returning player D’Angelo Gates, who had an outstanding game. His excitement proved on the court as he played what he liked to call “Dlo basketball”.
He ended the night with 15 points and 12 rebounds. I asked Gates how does it feel coming back on the court. His response, “It feels good!”
Deangelo Gates, a graduate from Thurgood Marshall Class of 2009 had a comeback, laced up and ready to play. “I describe my game in three words, relentless, heart, and patient,” said Gates.
Gates wasn’t the only player who showed up ready to play. Akiean Frederick also led the team with a leading score of 16 points and 4 rebounds. With a close game Sinclair ended up on top with the 76-69 win. The men ended the night with a 17-0 record making this the best record Sinclair Men basketball team had ever achieved.
That wasn’t all for the Tartans, Sinclair stayed steady at #2 this week in the NJCAA Division II Basketball Poll. The Sinclair team won both games last week and remained undefeated as the Tartans continues on with the best start to a season (19-0) and the longest winning streak (19) in Sinclair history. Sinclair is now top on the OCCAC with a perfect team 6-0 record after a home win against Cuyahoga.
I asked Gates, now that the team is (20-0), how would he describe the team improvement compared to the beginning of the season? “As a team, I knew that we were going to be good, but I didn’t think that we were going to be (19-0) good. At this point, I assumed that we would probably be 15-3, something around there. We developed a lot and we came together good. Picking pieces of talent across the map. Having Reshardd Harris who is from Detroit, everyone bound is indescribable, we came together very good and played team basketball,” said Gates.
I also was able to ask Gates individually how well he thinks he himself has improved and his response was, “Honestly, I can say since I came back from winter break, my game is finally picking up to where it deserves to be. At the beginning, I was fighting through a lot of injuries and it was hard. Now, I am finally playing Deangelo ‘DLo ball, D-Gates basketball.’”
(19-0) undefeated record is not easy to maintain, this week, the Sinclair Community College Men’s Basketball moved a little closer between #1 and #2 as Lansing dropped a first place vote to Sinclair. And last week, Lensing took 9 first place votes to Sinclair’s 3 and this week Lansing was down to 8 as Sinclair moved up to 4.
“I told my teammates the day I stop worrying about stats, we will start winning,” said Deangelo Gates. The Tartans will travel up I-75 to take on OCCAC rival Edison State. Every home game is played here at Sinclair Community College at building 8.
Afi Ntonolo
Reporter