The State Fair Community College (SFCC) Roadrunners saw their season end in the Region 16 Men's Division I Basketball Championship Tournament Quarterfinal Round on Tuesday, Feb. 26 with a 91-81 loss to the Mineral Area College Cardinals in Park Hills, Missouri.
The Cardinals continued their recent hot shooting knocking down 54% of their field-goal attempts and 44% of their three-point attempts. Mineral Area led 32-17 with less than five minutes to go in the opening half. The Cardinals took a 35-26 lead at halftime.
SFCC refused to go away quietly and went on an 18-4 run to trim the lead to 57-44 early in the second half.
"We pressed more in the second half," said Roadrunners Head Coach Matt Brown. "We were playing nine guys and they were only playing seven. We had to do something to speed up the tempo of the game."
SFCC put together another run late in the game to get within 10 points, but that was as close as they would get and the fourth-seeded Cardinals emerged with a victory over the fifth-seeded Roadrunners.
"We got behind early in the game," said Brown. "The second half was a lot better for us. Mineral Area shot the ball well. They are a very good team."
Freshman guard Damaria Franklin of Chicago, Illinois led SFCC (12-16) in scoring with 14 points. Sophomore guard/forward Caleb Coleman of Hammond, Indiana added 12 points, along with freshman forward L.J. Bryan of Cheltenham, Maryland and freshman wing Malcolm Townsel of Evanston, Illinois. Sophomore guard Josh Humphries of Tampa, Florida pitched in with 10 points. Bryan pulled down a team-high 12 rebounds. Sophomore guard Dru Smith dished out a team-high six assists. Humphries, redshirt sophomore center Mike Stone of Brooklyn, New York, and Townsel all registered two blocked shots. Smith led the team in steals with three.
"I'm obviously disappointed for our sophomores," said Brown. "Last year we had a really good year and finished second in the regular season standings. This year we had a lot of ups and downs. Caleb already has some Division I offers. Dru has a lot of Division II offers. Dewayne Charles will get some opportunities to continue his academic and athletic career as well."
David Rohrbach
SFCC Athletics