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Game 17: Connors State (Okla.) 66, Daytona State College (Fla.) 65
Game 18: Trinity Valley (Tex.) 61, Cowley College (Kan.) 60
Game 19: South Plains College (Tex.) 79, Angelina College (Tex.) 70
Game 20: Panola College (Tex.) 75, Vincennes (Ind.) 67
Game 17 recap:
The glass slipper is strapped on tight for the Connors State men.
The No. 17-seed Cowboys rallied from 12 points down with 5:05 left to defeat No. 8 Daytona State Wednesday 66-65 in the quarterfinals of the National Junior College Athletic Association Division I Men’s Basketball Championship tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas.
Connors advances to the semifinals for the second straight year and plays the winner of No. 12 South Plains and No. 4 Angelina at 5:30 p.m. Friday.
The difference in the first half was minimal as Connors trailed 30-25 at intermission. The Cowboys converted 11 of 30 (38.7%) shots to the Falcons’ 10-of-32 (31.3%) shooting. However, Daytona made three 3s to CSC’s two and converted seven free throws of Connors’ four.
The second half started in the Cowboys favor and they scored the first five points of the half to tie the score at 30-30 with 18:17 left in the half. But the Falcons went on a run of their own, scoring seven straight to retake the lead 37-30.
Connors came right back and with 14:54 to go had completed a 7-0 spurt to tie the score at 37-37.
The see-saw then tilted in favor of the Falcons as they found their range from beyond the arc, hitting three 3s while dropping in two two-point buckets to get out to a 50-42 lead with 11:08 remaining in regulation.
Daytona State kept up the hot shooting and with 5:05 left they led 61-49.
But the Cowboys put on a rally. After a flagrant foul was called against a Daytona player, Jeremiah Johnson made two free throws and Monday’s hero DJ Dormu nailed a 3 from just outside the arc, and with 2:55 left, the Cowboys trailed 65-59.
At the 1:23 mark, Edwin Daniel hit a 3 and the deficit was cut to 65-62. And with 38.3 to go, Dormu nailed a 3 from the left win to tie the score at 65-65.
With 7.2 seconds left, Daniel was fouled and made one of two free throws. The second attempt bounced off the rim and Daniel grabbed the rebound and was fouled again with 5.9 left.
This time he missed both and Daytona, with no time outs, dribbled the length of the floor but missed the final shot as the Cowboys move on.
Daniel led the Cowboys with 17 points, while Dormu had 15 points and Aric Walls finished with 13 points. As a team, Connors shot 41.8% (23 of 55) from the field while Daytona State made 38.1% of its shots (24 of 63).
Game 18 recap:
The Trinity Valley Cardinals won a thriller over Cowley College on Wednesday, 61-60, to advance to the semifinals of the NJCAA tournament.
The Cardinals blocked the final shot of the game to seal the win.
Trinity Valley scored the first seven points of the game, but Cowley held a 28-25 lead at halftime. In the second half, Cowley led by as many as 10 points before the Cardinals battled back. TVCC took their first lead of the half with 10:10 left at 43-42. TVCC was up by as many as eight points before Cowley brought it back to within a point with 90 seconds left in the game. MJ Wardlow go the bucket and the foul to put TVCC up by three with 36 seconds remaining.
Tyler Smith and Cameron Williams led the way for the Cardinals. Smith was 5-of-13 from the floor to finish with 14 points, one rebound and one assist. Williams was 7-of-9 from the floor to finish with 14 points, seven rebounds and an assist. Garrett Nuckolls (Bullard) had nine points, four rebounds and three assists.
Game 19 recap:
The Angelina College Roadrunners’ season comes to an end on Wednesday night with a 79-70 loss to South Plains College in the quarterfinal round of the NJCAA Division I Men’s Basketball tournament.
South Plains outscored Angelina in the paint, 38-18.
The Roadrunners went back and forth with the Texans in the first half and held a 36-33 lead at the halftime break. In the second half, Angelina led by seven points with 11 minutes to go in the game. Both teams continued trading buckets and trading the lead. With 7:10 remaining, South Plains went on an 11-0 scoring run to take a nine point lead and the Texans never surrendered the lead again.
Leading the way for Angelina was Jordan Mathews with 16 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Kanaan Holder (Hudson) had 14 points and an assist.
Game 20 recap:
Waqo Tessema and the Panola College men’s basketball team picked a great night for a career-high scoring night and a season-high in 3-pointers made.
Tessema scored a career-high 24 points, including seven 3-pointers; Travis Torain scored 16 points with four 3-pointers; and Khoi Thurmon had a double-double with 13 points and 12 assists as No. 6 seeded Panola hit a season-high 14 3-pointers in defeating No. 14 seeded Vincennes 75-67 in a NJCAA Division I quarterfinal matchup on Wednesday in Hutchinson, Kansas.
Tessema connected on 7-of-14 from behind the 3-point line, and Torain hit 4-of-9 from beyond the arc.
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Panola (29-6), who on Tuesday defeated No. 11 Frank Phillips 60-53, started off strong building their lead to as many as nine points early in the game.
Vincennes (28-5) battled back to give Panola their first deficit in the tournament by taking a five-point lead late in the first half behind the hot shooting of Travelle Bryson.
But Panola didn’t let the deficit deter them as the Ponies tied the Trail Blazers 40-40 going to the half.
Behind four quick Worsham points, Panola took a 44-40 lead and the Ponies staved off the Trail Blazers the rest of the game.
Vincennes, who defeated No. 3 seeded Indian Wells 85-71 on Monday, had trouble scoring from the outside in the second half as Panola completely shut down Bryson in the second half.
Bryson — who scored 17 points in the first half, including five 3-pointers — ended up going scoreless in the second half.
Panola stayed even keel from beyond the arc as the Ponies hit seven 3s in the first half and seven 3s in the second half.
The Ponies built their lead to as many as 11 in the second half before the Trail Blazers cut the deficit down to as little as four points.
LeBron Thomas and Bryson each scored 17 points for Vincennes as Thomas added six rebounds and seven assists.
Bryan Akanmu scored 10 points with six rebounds and five assists for the Trail Blazers.
After Panola’s lead was cut to four at 67-63, Torain hit back-to-back 3s that stretched the Ponies’ lead back to double digits with 2:28 left in the game.
Enel St. Bernard scored four points and added seven rebounds and three block, and Benicio Leons added six rebounds and a pair of steals for the Ponies.
Panola will face a very familiar opponent in the semifinals: None other than Trinity Valley. The No. 7-seeded Cardinals defeated No. 2 seed Cowley 61-60 in another quarterfinal matchup.
This will be the fourth time these two Region XIV Conference rivals will have squared off this season.
Panola has taken two out of the three matchups against Trinity Valley, including a 67-59 victory in the Region XIV Tournament championship back on March 15.