The Southeast Community College men’s basketball team split their games in the SCC Holiday Classic Friday, Nov. 30, and Saturday, Dec. 1.
On Friday SCC lost to Kansas City Kansas Community College 71-63.
SCC led at halftime 30-29, but was outscored 42-23 in the second half. The Storm struggled offensively in the game, shooting just 34 percent from the field and 19 percent from the three point line.
Head Coach Joel Wooton said his team “had a chance to blow them out” in the first half.
Wooton said his team is playing better defense, but it is hurting on the offensive side with players “doing too much standing, not moving around, and added that players are “trying too hard to make things happen, instead of trusting the offense.”
Josh Roberts led the Storm with 14 points. Delquan Thomas added 13 despite playing on a bad ankle.
That ankle would prevent Thomas from playing in Saturday’s 84-68 win over York JV.
Coach Wooton took many positives from the game.
“The York game was actually good for our guys, they struggled, and when they let them get ahead, they showed they have some grit,” he said.
“I wanted them to work through it without me having to call a bunch of timeouts,” Wooton explained, “and they did and finished the game the way they should have played earlier, started getting stops and forcing bad shots which led to transition for us.”
“That is an important lesson for our guys to figure out for themselves,” he added. “It was also good to overcome adversity; with Deli out and all the foul trouble, it was hard to get a rhythm going in the game, but they overcame it without me having to show them how.”
“The best lessons are the ones the players work through for themselves,” Wooton continued. “It’s a part of the process of really learning how to play. After they watched on film a lot of light bulbs began to come on. It is a part of developing trust in each other and in what we are trying to do.”
Trey Porter led the Storm with 20 points. Jerrod Gamble notched a double/double, scoring 16 points and pulling down 13 rebounds, while Fernando Hildreth added 12.