Storm men keep early lead over Doane JV

The SCC Storm raced out to a 9-0 lead in the opening minutes, and never looked back in route to an easy 88-71 win over the Doane JV’s on Tuesday, Nov.14, at the Truman Center.

SCC shot a blistering 62.5 percent from the field in the first half, while holding the Tigers to 39 percent shooting. SCC cooled off in the second half, but they still shot 49.2 for the game.

One of the challenges for Junior Colleges playing a JV squad from a four-year school like Doane is the JV squad is often mix and matched with other players, making them a difficult team to game plan against.

Head Coach Joel Wooton said it was a challenge to get his team prepared, not knowing who exactly they would see on the court.

“We scouted their other JV team, so this one is way more talented and plays differently than the game we scouted,” Wooton explained.

The coach credited his players for being able to “adjust on the fly” defensively and slow down the Tigers.

“That is the same JV team that lost at McCook by 12 last weekend and lost to another D1 Juco, while only trailing by 9 at half in the same tournament, ” Wooton said.

Southeast took advantage of the fast start to go deep into the bench and play some 3rd tier players.  But the coach saw room for improvement from that group.

“I thought they were trying to do too much; they didn’t do a good job in help defense,” Wooton said.

But the coach added that the playing time will keep them motivated to play hard in practice. It also gives the front line players some valuable rest in what typically is a long and grueling season.

Daniel Quesenberry led SCC with 18 points, including a perfect 8-8 from the free throw line. Kalem Hardaway scored 11 points, to go along with six assists. Starting point guard Qua Epps dished out seven assists.

Wooton was pleased to see his team dish out a total of 24 assists for the game. But he cautioned that the team still has room for improvement on sharing the ball.

“We still turn the ball over too much,” Wooton said  “The guys are still learning what is a good shot and a bad shot. ”

Prior to the season, the SCC coaches decided to move Jalen Wilkins-McCoy to the wing.  Wooton said the transition is going well for the sophomore from Chicago, Ill.

“I like Jalen’s progress on the wing.  He continues to work hard on his shot.  He has been a pretty good shooter from the perimeter this year.  The more consistency he has the more difficult he is to guard because of his ability to get to the rim,” Wooton said.

Southeast will head to Central Community College on Saturday, Nov. 18, to play Southwestern and York JV. Southwestern is currently ranked as the number one team in the country.