Roadrunners Homecoming rally falls just short

The State Fair Community College (SFCC) Roadrunners picked up a 95-83 victory over the North Arkansas College Pioneers inside the Fred E. Davis Multipurpose Center on Monday night, Feb. 7. It was the first game in more than a week for the Roadrunners.

SFCC shook off a slow start to take a 26-20 advantage with less than 11 minutes remaining in the opening half. The Roadrunners led the fast-paced contest 53-41 at halftime. The Roadrunners held onto the halftime advantage to pick up their second consecutive victory.

"We knew that North Arkansas was a good team that scored a lot of points," said Roadrunners Head Coach Matt Brown. "I thought we did a good job of getting to the basket, especially Cam Tweedy, and making our free throws. It was good to be able to get all of our guys who were in uniform into the game."

Chad Kratzer Jr. led SFCC in scoring with 18 points and dished out a team-high seven assists. Kratzer also led the team in steals with three. Tweedy just missed a double-double with 16 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Jamar Madge Jr. also had 16 points and led the team in blocked shots with two. Will Wilson pitched in with 15 points.

The Roadrunners only turned the ball over 12 times and recorded 28 assists as a team.

Feb. 9 Mineral Area College at Park Hills

SFCC dropped a Region 16 and Missouri Community College Athletic Conference contest 90-65 to the 16^th-ranked Mineral Area College Cardinals in Park Hills, Missouri on Wednesday night, Feb. 9.

Mineral Area jumped out to an early 10-0 lead and never looked back.

"Mineral Area is a good team," said Brown. "You can't fall behind 10-0 right from the tipoff. When you're on the road you have to be on your "A" game and you can't get down in a hole that fast. Unfortunately, that is what we did but, we have to move forward and get ready to play Three Rivers on Saturday."

Tweedy led the team in scoring with 16 points. Wilson added 10. Kingsley Ijeoma tied for the team lead in rebounds with four with Wilson. Ijeoma had a team-high two blocked shots. Yame Butler dished out a team-high three assists.

Feb. 12 Three Rivers Community College at Sedalia

SFCC (14-12, 2-8 in Region 16) dropped a 71-62 Region 16 and Missouri Community College Athletic Conference game on Homecoming to the Three Rivers Community College Raiders inside the Fred E. Davis Multipurpose Center on Saturday night, February 12.

Three Rivers led by 19 points in the second half, the largest lead held by either team in the contest. The Roadrunners cut the deficit to four with three minutes and 51 seconds remaining in the second half however, that was as close as they would get.

"When you play against a good team you can't get off to a slow start, down 19 points," said Brown. "We were able to cut it to four but, you can't wait until the end of the game. You're not going to beat people with 13 assists and 20 turnovers. In the first half of the game, we were not very good. I thought we were pretty good in the last seven or eight minutes of the game. Three Rivers obviously deserved to win."

Tweedy registered a double-double with 22 points and 11 rebounds to lead the team in both categories. Kratzer contributed 13 points. Madge dished out a team-high four assists. Butler led the team in steals with five.

David Rohrbach

SFCC Athletics