In Blue Lights’ lone game last week, Sam Benton, Jr. paced the Thoroughbreds with 21 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds and 7 steals and has been named New South Men’s Basketball Player of the Week. The 5’10” point guard filled the stat sheet while driving both the offense and the defense.
Congratulations to sophomore Sam Benton, the NSAC Player of the Week!
Image courtesy Craig Green/BLC Media
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – The Apprentice School Department of Athletics is set to host the Great Ships Classic basketball tournament this weekend at the Apprentice School Athletics Center.
Over the course of Saturday and Sunday, six different institutions will come to Newport News to take part in the tournament. On the women’s side, Cheyney, Clinton, and Washington Adventist will participate, while the men’s side will include Central International, Central Penn, and Mid-Atlantic Christian.
Saturday at 4:00 pm, the CIC and MACU men’s teams will tangle in an NSAC rematch. The Mustangs (1-7 overall, 1-0 NSAC) nipped the Cardinals 101-77 on November 8 in Elizabeth City. On Sunday, second-ranked Apprentice (6-3) will face Central (5-4, 0-1) at 6:00 pm. It will be the Builders’ first conference game of the year.
Games each day will start at 12 p.m. with four games happening per day. The Builder basketball teams will play the first two games of the day Saturday and the last two on Sunday.
Story and Image courtesy gobuilders.com
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – The transition game was the key for the Apprentice School men’s basketball team to get back on the winning track over Regent Wednesday night 99-54.
After the Royals opened the game with the first basket of the night, the Builders went on a 17-4 run to secure the lead and never let the game get closer than seven. Apprentice led the game by 14 at halftime and by as many as the final 45-point margin.
Donovan Means led all scorers with a career-high 24 points on 10-of-13 shooting from the floor. Adrion Wall put up 17, while Kurij Harrell and Avin Hawkins added 14 and 12 off the bench, respectively.
The Builders outscored Regent in fast break points, 32-2, while also getting 37 points off turnovers. Regent had just five points off Builder turnovers.
Apprentice will now turn their attention to the Great Ships Classic this weekend when they play host to the two-day tournament. The Builders will open the tournament against Central Penn at 2 p.m. Saturday.
Story and image courtesy gobuilders.com
RALEIGH, NC –The Saint Augustine’s men’s basketball team shot 56.2 percent from three-point range on the way to an 89-53 win against the Mid-Atlantic Christian Mustangs at home Wednesday.
The Falcons (4-5) had six players score in double figures, led by Nemo Johnson, who had 16 points, eight rebounds and two blocks. Caleb Gilmore added 11 points off of the bench and Joshua Johnson helped out with 11 points, six rebounds and four steals off of the bench.
MACU (1-7) was led by Carlos Raven’s 10 points.
Story and image courtesy saintaugfalcons.com
Blue Lights went one-and-one last week with a win over the Livingstone JV squad and a close loss at a much-improved Johnson and Wales. Wol Yak was a huge part of all that success averaging a double-double. The sophomore forward poured in 35 points at home against the Blue Bears with 13 boards. For the week Yak averaged 25.5 points and 10 boards as well as four blocks over the two games. For his efforts, sophomore Wol Yak has been named the New South Men’s Basketball Player of the Week.
Apprentice junior guard Karree Smith also had a standout week, going 6-of-6 from the field and finishing with 13 points against Greensboro College and 7-of-9 with 23 points against NC Wesleyan. Smith was named to the Roger Taylor Invitational All-Tournament Team and receives Honorable Mention from the NSAC.
The first basketball polls of the year are out in the USCAA, and the New South Conference is well represented as the Apprentice men’s and women’s teams as well as the Atlantis men are in the top 5 of their respective polls.
The Apprentice men have garnered the number 2 national ranking, trailing only Bryant & Stratton Syracuse. Head coach Evan Kee is pleased with the recognition and says he’s looking forward to returning to Petersburg, Virginia, the site of the USCAA Small College Championships.
“We are thrilled that our strong start to the season has led to an early season #2 ranking,” said Kee. “We’ve played a challenging opening schedule and we are happy to have come out with some convincing wins. We understand that the only poll that truly matters is the final one, which will be the crowned national champion. We hope to be in position to finish the season number one in the country and to cut down nets at Virginia State University.”
The Builders are picking up where they left off last season when they went undefeated in conference play, won the NSAC tournament title, and advanced to the USCAA semifinals before falling to Bryant & Stratton Buffalo 77-75.
Atlantis comes into the poll ranked number 4. The new NSAC member also appeared in the national tournament last season in its first year of eligibility, but fell victim to B&S Buffalo in the opening round 73-64.
B&S Buffalo is at number three. Salem University, last year’s national champion, rounds out the top 5.
The Apprentice women crack the season-opening rankings at number four. The Lady Builders fell to eventual champion D’Youville in the national semifinals last year 75-48.
Sometimes, scouting an opponent can present challenges. Lack of game tape, roster turnover and other unforeseen circumstances can throw off a team and coach’s preparation for game day.
Enter the Livingstone College Blue Bears junior varsity squad, the latest challenge to Blue Lights College men’s basketball coach Nolan Adams and his young Thoroughbreds. Finding information on the Blue Bears, including their game-day roster, was difficult at times. “It was an X-factor. We didn’t know much about them,” Adams said postgame on the Thoroughbreds Sports Network.
Livingstone came to Hope Community Church Arena with a distinct size advantage over the Thoroughbreds. Of the eight players dressed for the Blue Bears, only one was listed under six feet tall, and five of them were at least 6’6″. “Just because they’re bigger than us doesn’t mean we have to adjust to them; they have to adjust to us,” Adams added.
Truer words were never spoken, as the Thoroughbreds used a 57 point second half to cruise to a 102-88 victory over the visitors from Salisbury, N.C. Sophomore forward Wol Yak was hot in the first half, scoring 25 of his game-high 31 points in the first 20 minutes.
“Wol really picked it up (for us) in the first half,” Adams said.
The Herd (5-2) led 45-40 at the break in a back-and-forth matchup. Livingstone held a 37-36 lead with 2:42 remaining until halftime. The lead was short-lived as sophomore point guard Sam Benton, Jr. hit a three-pointer to regain a 39-37 advantage that BLC never surrendered for the remainder of the game.
Despite the best efforts from Blue Bears guard James Nipper and forward AJ Shaw, the Thoroughbreds did just enough to hold off Livingstone in the final 20 minutes. Benton scored 17 of his 24 points in the second half, including three field goals from beyond the arc. Wol Yak and freshman guard Patrick Harrington (five points) both hit dagger threes in the final minute to put the exclamation point on the victory.
BLC got major contributions from freshmen Darquez Flowers (9 points, 13 rebounds), Jaye Bookhart (8 points, five rebounds) and the returning Kalil Baker (14 points, nine assists).
Benton, Baker, and Wol Yak missed the previous two games at Cape Fear Community College and Allen University with injuries. Sophomore guard Miigwaanhs Barrientoz remains sidelined with a calf injury and missed Tuesday’s game. The timeline for Barrientoz to return is unclear at this time.
The Thoroughbreds will travel to Charlotte on Thursday, November 30th in a non-conference showdown with Johnson & Wales University.
Story and image courtesy Craig Green/BLC Media
After a needed Thanksgiving Day break, New South teams return to action this week to a slate of interesting matchups.
Blue Lights opens the week on Tuesday by hosting the JV team from Livingstone, The Thoroughbreds (4-2) hope to end a two-game slide by getting key players back from injuries.
Wednesday night is Rivalry Night in Miami as Atlantis (3-2) hosts cross-town foe United International College.
It’s officially called the Roger Taylor Classic, but Apprentice (5-1) and MACU (1-4) consider the weekend of games in Rocky Mount, North Carolina to be the “NSAC-USA South Showdown.” On Friday, the Builders face Greensboro College and the Thoroughbreds tackle NC Wesleyan. They switch opponents on Saturday.
Central International (4-4) gets back to action on Monday, December 4, taking on a much-improved Patrick Henry College team.
Lighthouse (5-2) will try to knock the rust off from a two-week layoff when it travels to Atlantis on December 6. It will mark the first-ever NSAC conference game for both teams.
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Blue Lights College, with a short roster due to a number of injuries to key players, dropped its second straight game 90-35 Saturday at Allen.
Allen got out to a fast start leading 15-1 early on and then 46-19 at the halftime break. AU shot 52 % from the floor overall in the game and 42 percent from three. Allen then outscored Blue Lights 44-16 in the second half holding BLC to just 23 percent from the floor and 15 percent from three.
Thoroughbred starters Kalil Baker, Sam Benton and Miigwaanhs Barrientoz all missed action for the second game due to injuries, depriving BLC of almost 60 points.
The Yellow Jackets’ Austin James led all scorers with 14 points. BLC’s Wol Yak and Patrick Harrigton scored eight apiece.
Blue Lights drops to 4-2 on the season. Allen’s record remains at 0-2 as AU considered the game as an exhibition.
ALBANY, N.Y. – Atlantis and Bryant & Stratton Albany played a back-and-forth contest in their rematch Thursday night, but the Atlanteans held on late to sweep the series 68-66.
B&S took the lead from the start on their home court for the first time in their two home games against AU. Atlantis (3-2) fought back and led by as many as five before settling for a 4-point advantage at halftime, 30-26.
B&S (1-2) retook the lead in the first minute of the second period and extended it to 33-30 before AU reclaimed the top spot on a Keith Shakes, Jr. layup at the 16:16 mark to make it 35-34. The visitors would lead by as many as 12 after two free throws by Stewart Clough with 9:08 remaining before the Bobcats would rally again.
B&S cut the lead to one, 67-66, with 17 seconds to play off a steal and subsequent layup by Devon Smith-Johnson. Tyric Francois of Atlantis was fouled on the inbounds play and made one of his two free throw attempts. The Bobcats had a chance to retake the lead with :09 remaining but missed both free throws to provide the final score.
“Very proud of the way our guys fought to the very last second of the game,” said B&S coach Mike Shewmaker. “Our energy and commitment to playing hard for 40 minutes was there, but the reality is, you don’t win college basketball games shooting 17-30 from the FT line.”
Clough led the Atlanteans with 17 points. Smith-Johnson matched that for Bryant & Stratton.
Atlantis had defeated B&S Albany 73-56 on Tuesday and dropped a 91-79 decision to Bryant & Stratton Syracuse on Wednesday.
Image courtesy albany.bscbobcats.com
