November 15 Neosho County Community College at Chanute, Kansas
The State Fair Community College (SFCC) Roadrunners snapped a four-game losing streak with a 65-61 victory over Neosho County Community College on Tuesday, November 15 in Chanute, Kansas.
SFCC took a 31-22 lead into the locker room at halftime and pushed the advantage to 13 points early in the second half. Although Neosho outscored SFCC 39-34 in the second half, the Roadrunners made the plays down the stretch to secure the road victory.
"We have played a lot of ranked teams to begin the season," said Roadrunners Head Coach Matt Brown. "We had some good stretches in those games. We just had to stick with it and we were able to do that tonight. Hopefully, we can start putting some good games together."
Freshman guard Devon Ellis led SFCC with 25 points, two blocks (tied) and two steals. Freshman guard Elijah Bernstein contributed 14 points and a team-high six assists. Sophomore wing/forward Abou Wague added 10 points, nine rebounds, and two blocks (tied).
November 18 National Park College at Sedalia
SFCC opened their portion of the SFCC Classic with a 71-63 victory over National Park College at home Friday night, November 18 in Sedalia.
The Roadrunners took a 34-22 lead into halftime and extended the advantage to 50-32 in the second half. National Park College cut the lead to 64-59 with less than three minutes remaining in the contest, but could not overcome SFCC at the free throw line.
Sophomore guard Jules Bikoy led the team with 24 points. Ellis pitched in with 17 points, including making nine of 10 free-throw attempts. Freshman guard Tazir Smith added 15 points, a team-high nine rebounds, and a team-high three assists. Wague registered a team-high three blocked shots.
"We have played some really good teams to start the season and been in all those games," said Brown. "We knocked down some big free throws at the end of the game. National Park has some really good players on their team."
November 19 SEMO Prep at Sedalia
SFCC (4-5) closed out the SFCC Classic with an 82-52 victory over SEMO Prep on Saturday, November 19. The victory was the third in a row for SFCC.
The Roadrunners used a balanced scoring effort, which featured three players in double figures. Ellis led the team with 21 points on eight of 11 shooting. Sophomore wing/forward Dalton Gayman contributed 15 points and eight rebounds, a team-high. Freshman guard Josh Barlow contributed 10 points. Freshman guard Christian Finley and Bikoy had five assists each (team high). Smith and Wague had two steals each, a team high.
"We played pretty well from start to finish," said Brown. "We had 25 assists and only 12 turnovers, which is really good. Our field goal percentage was good but, the most important thing was that we took care of the ball. We were able to play everyone in the first half. I think we are trending in the right way."
David Rohrbach
SFCC Athletics