Men's Basketball drops contest to North Arkansas College, 95-85

Nov. 20 North Arkansas College at Sedalia

The State Fair Community College (SFCC) Roadrunners played and lost 92-85 to the North Arkansas College (North Ark) Pioneers on Tuesday, Nov. 20. The game was a back-and-forth contest and featured 17 lead changes and four ties.

SFCC trailed the Pioneers 49-44 at halftime and North Ark outscored the Roadrunners by two points in the second half to provide the winning margin.

The Roadrunners' offense was led by the tandem of sophomore guard/forward Caleb Coleman of Hammond, Indiana and freshman wing Maurice Murray of Sicklerville, New Jersey. Coleman led SFCC in scoring with 32 points on 12 of 16 shooting and had a team-high nine rebounds and four steals. Murray contributed 26 points, while sophomore guard Dru Smith of Kansas City, Missouri dished out a team-high six assists.

"Caleb shot the ball well for us tonight," said Roadrunners Basketball Head Coach Matt Brown. "Our defense must improve. We have to go back to the drawing board defensively. We can't keep dropping games like this, it is unacceptable. North Arkansas outplayed us tonight and deserved the win."

Nov.23 Motlow State Community College at Moberly, Missouri

The State Fair Community College (SFCC) Roadrunners snapped a four-game losing streak with a 71-61 victory over the Motlow State Community College Bucks on Friday, Nov. 23 in the Moberly Classic. The game went back-and-forth featuring 10 lead changes and eight ties. SFCC trailed 31-29 at halftime.

"It was a good win for us," said Brown. "We were able to make our free throws and take care of the ball."

SFCC led 42-41 with about 12 minutes remaining in the game and lengthened their advantage to 13 points in the second half. The Bucks trimmed the score to 55-52 with about five minutes remaining in the contest, before the Roadrunners went on a 16-9 spurt to close out the game.

Coleman led a balanced SFCC scoring attack with 15 points, two blocks, two steals, and six rebounds. Coleman also tied for the team-lead in assists with redshirt freshman guard Alonde LeGrand of Harlem, New York and Dewayne Charles of Kansas City, Missouri with four each. Smith also pitched in with 12 points and two steals of his own. Murray and freshman guard Damaria Franklin of Chicago, Illinois added 11 points each.

SFCC shot 44.8 percent from the field and 77.8 percent from the free-throw line.

Nov. 24 Highland Community College-Illinois at Moberly, Missouri

SFCC (4-7) closed their portion of the Moberly Classic with a 68-60 loss to the Highland Community College-Illinois Cougars on Saturday, Nov. 24. The hard-fought game featured 13 lead changes and seven ties.

SFCC shot 38.7 percent from the field for the game and 50 percent from the free-throw line.

"We only shot 50 percent from the free-throw line and yet it was still a two point game with 10 seconds remaining," said Brown. "You have to be able to make your free throws and take care of the ball to be successful at any level and that was the difference in this game."

Murray led SFCC in scoring with 11 points. Franklin and freshman wing Malcolm Townsel of Chicago, Illinois scored 10 points each. Coleman pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds and tied for the team lead in assists with sophomore guard Josh Humphries of Tampa, Florida and Charles dishing out three each. Freshman wing Jacayah Webster of Columbia, Tennessee led the team in blocked shots with two.

David Rohrbach

SFCC Athletics