Southeast Community College men’s basketball coach Joel Wooton breathed a sigh of relief and wiped his brow after enduring a thrilling 93-91 double overtime win over McCook Community College Sunday, Jan. 20, at the Truman Center.
“I am glad that’s over with,” Wooton said.
The two teams battled back and forth in the first half, which featured six lead changes before McCook took at 37-35 halftime lead.
McCook then jumped out to a 54-42 second half lead, but SCC responded with a 12-0 run which started with a Kelvin Bramble bucket on a screen and roll return pass.
Coach Wooton said it was the ideal game to get Bramble more involved.
“They had a big guy (Akeme Smart) we thought we could match Bramble up with,” Wooton said. “He is a very raw player, but he did a great job with the screens up top.”
The game was tied at 54-54 before McCook went on another run to lead by 12. SCC then battled their way back to tie and take the game into overtime.
The coach once again credited the Storm’s utilization of their offensive game plan.
“We wanted to take Smart and draw him up along the perimeter and get him screened off,” Wooton explained. “That allowed Deli (Delquan Thomas) to go down low and post up against McCook’s smaller guard and get a basket or draw a foul.”
Josh Roberts hit a three with 51 seconds left in the second overtime to go up 92-88, but McCook’s Tony Lester added to the suspense, hitting a trey from the left corner to make it 92-91.
Roberts was fouled moments later and hit 1-2 from the free throw line to make it 93-91. Tony Dobbison missed a shot at the buzzer, and SCC held on to win.
Delquan Thomas led the Storm with 22 points; Tyrell Corlew added 20 points, including 6-11 from beyond the arc; and Trey Porter chipped in 14 points.
Porter was taken to Beatrice Community Hospital following the game for observation of a possible head or neck injury.
Wooton said Porter may have got neck whiplash from a “hard elbow” earlier in the game.
Carl Swallow led McCook with 24 points and Tony Dobbison scored 20, but was held to 0-9 from the three point line.
SCC’s next game is at Central Community College in Columbus Thursday, Jan 24, at 8 p.m.
Look for photos to be posted later today.