Men’s Basketball Opens Preseason Schedule

The State Fair Community College (SFCC) Roadrunners got their first opportunity to scrimmage against another team at the Mullen/Mitchell Junior College Jamboree Blowout on Oct. 5-6 in Fort Worth, Texas. SFCC faced high quality competition at the event going 1-3. The format for the scrimmages was two 20-minute running clock halves.

The Roadrunners took on Kilgore College in their first scrimmage at the event. SFCC fell by a score of 44-33.

Sophomore guard/forward Caleb Coleman of Hammond, Indiana led his team in scoring with 11 points. Freshman guard Damaria Franklin of Chicago, Illinois contributed nine points. Freshman forward L.J. Bryan of Chelteham, Maryland added seven points and pulled down a team-high six rebounds.

"Kilgore was a really big team," said Roadrunners Basketball Head Coach Matt Brown. "We have 11 new guys on the roster out of 14, so there were some nerves, but it was good to play some high level competition. We played a lot of players at the event"

SFCC took on Strength N Motion International later on Friday night. SFCC won that game 51-42.

Sophomore guard Kamari Balton of Jefferson City led the team in scoring with nine points. Freshman wing Malcolm Townsel of Evanston, Illinois pitched in with eight points. Redshirt sophomore forward Mike Stone of Brooklyn, New York pulled down a team-high four rebounds. Sophomore guard Dru Smith of Kansas City, Missouri dished out a team-high three assists, while Freshman wing DeAndre Speight of Newark, New Jersey registered a team-high two blocked shots.

"We were able to play a lot of different combinations in this game as well," said Brown. "We also played a little bit more up-tempo in this game."

SFCC opened play on Saturday against Seward County Community College. Seward won the scrimmage. There were no stats available from the last two scrimmages.

"Seward was probably the best team that we played at the event," said Brown. "Their full-court pressure was really good. They were very quick and athletic team. I thought Caleb Coleman played well for us in the game."

SFCC finished the Jamboree with a scrimmage against New Mexico Junior College. New Mexico Junior College won the scrimmage.

"New Mexico Junior College was another good team," said Brown. "We played everyone in this game. It was close game until about the last 10 minutes."

Coach Brown felt his team got a lot out of the four games in Texas.

"We learned what we're good at and what we have to continue to improve on," said Brown. "We also learned about some different combinations that we can play. The weekend was really good from that perspective."

SFCC fans will have the opportunity to see the Roadrunners scrimmage at home on Saturday, Oct. 13 against Avila University. The scrimmage will begin at 1 p.m. inside the Fred E. Davis Multipurpose Center.

David Rohrbach

SFCC Athletics