The State Fair Community College Roadrunners traveled to West Burlington, Iowa, to open the second half of their season on Wednesday, Jan. 6. SFCC (11-4) lost a hard-fought game to the Southeastern Community College Blackhawks by a score of 74-72.
Sophomore forward Clint Robinson got SFCC on the scoreboard early in the contest. SFCC pushed the advantage to five with three minutes and 20 seconds remaining in the opening half. The Roadrunners led 35-28 at halftime.
"We did a much better job of defending in this game than we did in our last meeting with the Blackhawks," said Roadrunners Head Coach Kevin Thomas. "We rebounded the ball well in the first half. I thought Clint gave us a big lift in the first half. Asem Johnson played really well and provided us with great energy."
Robinson got the Roadrunner offense going early in the second half with a 5-0 run on one possession. He was able to score a two-point basket while being fouled, but he missed the free throw. The Roadrunners grabbed the offensive rebound, and Robinson knocked down a three-point basket.
"I think Clint had 25 points and seven rebounds in the game," said Thomas. "Our guys did a good job of finding him within the flow of our offense."
Southeastern cut the SFCC advantage to one with about 13 minutes remaining in the contest. The Blackhawks took the lead at 54-53. Both teams battled down the stretch. Southeastern made just enough plays to emerge with the victory.
"We have to continue to work on our rebounding," said Thomas. "We have to continue to get better defensively. We also need to tighten things up offensively; our shot selection during certain stretches of the game wasn't very good."
The Roadrunners open Region 16 play on Saturday night, Jan. 9, against the Three Rivers Community College Raiders. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at the Fred E. Davis Multipurpose Center on the Sedalia campus. The game is part of a doubleheader. The Lady Raiders and Lady Roadrunners will get the action started at 5:30 p.m.
David Rohrbach
SFCC Athletics