With a 12-10 record and only eight games left, the Sinclair men’s basketball team is at a critical point in the season.
“I can sum [the season] up in one word: Injuries,” head coach Jeff Price said. “We really have not had any consistency in our lineup because we have had constant injuries. To these guys’ credit they’ve been fighting through different lineups and different continuities. It seems like every game we have to learn how to play with a different lineup.”
Among the players fighting injuries this season are sophomore forward LiDonta Hicks-Gentry, freshman guards Quantes Jackson and Isaiah Trice and freshman guard/forward Michael (Isaiah) Collier. Among these four players, Jackson, Trice and Hicks-Gentry have all been named OCCAC players of the week.
“It’s hard to get people to understand this, but we are a young team,” Coach Price added. “Everyone says, ‘Well you’re a junior college, you only get them for two years,’ but we only have two sophomores, and [LiDonta] is the only one who has real, true game experience.”
With big games ahead, the focus is still on Coach Price’s famous three C’s: Classroom, Community Service and Competition. While the goal is always to win games, the ultimate goal is to win all around, especially in the classroom.
The team had two players, freshmen Nicoloy Bailey and Alec Holtrey, make the OCCAC All-Academic Team in the fall. If they keep their grades up through the spring semester, they will be Academic All-Americans. That would double the amount of Academic All-Americans the team has had in its history. This all comes back to the Classroom goal of graduation.
“You want to talk about a monumental win, a signature win, that’s the signature win,” said Price. “I wouldn’t trade [graduation] for a national championship. We tell people all the time: we are built for diplomas and we chase the rings.”
The Pride still has a chance to rise on the conference standings list, with seven of their eight remaining games being against conference opponents. Sinclair is only 4 games back from the lead.
“Our biggest strength this year is the fact that our guys can adapt and learn,” Price stated. “If we have mistakes, we have really gotten better at fixing those mistakes and recovering from them. I think our most consistent asset is we can shoot the ball from the three-point line.”
This certainly holds true, with the team averaging 34.5% from long-range. Hicks-Gentry is shooting 42.3% on threes as a post player, leading the team in this category.
“I allow my players, if you can shoot it, I’m going to let you,” Price said. “I tell them, ‘You need to be basketball players, and basketball players shoot the ball.’”
The team will play Owens Community College on the road Wed., Feb. 7, with a three-game home stretch following.
Paul Helmers
Sports Editor