Roadrunners remain undefeated
The State Fair Community College (SFCC) Roadrunners basketball team stretched their season opening winning streak to three with an 82-55 home victory over Westminster College inside the Fred E. Davis Multipurpose Center on Tuesday night, Nov. 5.
November 13, 2024
Nov. 5 Westminster College Junior Varsity at Sedalia
The State Fair Community College (SFCC) Roadrunners basketball team stretched their season opening winning streak to three with an 82-55 home victory over Westminster College inside the Fred E. Davis Multipurpose Center on Tuesday night, Nov. 5.
SFCC got out to a 27-14 lead with less than 10 minutes remaining in the opening half and led 40-27 at halftime.
Sophomore guard Alex Gunnels and freshman forward Daniel Garza led a balanced scoring attack for SFCC with 13 points each. Gunnels also dished out a team-high five assists which tied for the team lead with freshman guard Tyson Mobley. Gunnels recorded a team leading three steals. Sophomore guard/forward Jon Brandtner pitched in with 12 points. Sophomore forward Chin Hanson added 11 points and pulled down a team-high seven rebounds. Freshman forward Donovan Matthews led the team in blocked shots with three.
"We got to play a lot of different players tonight," said Roadrunners Head Coach Matt Brown. "We need to do a better job of taking care of the basketball. We are preparing to play the number four team in the country on Friday, it should be a great competition for us. You can't have small lapses in that game like we did tonight. We moved the ball well tonight and shot the ball well. I like our team. I think we have a chance to be a pretty good team."
Nov. 8 Triton College at Moberly
SFCC upset fourth-ranked Triton College to open their portion of the Midwest Juco Challenge 66-59 on Friday afternoon, Nov. 8 in Moberly.
SFCC jumped out to an early 11-5 lead with less than 13 minutes remaining in the opening half. Triton fought back to tie the game at 20 with about five minutes remaining. SFCC led 29-26 at halftime.
Triton opened the second half with a 6-0 run to take the lead. The Roadrunners battled back and took a 47-43 lead with less than eight minutes remaining in the low-scoring back-and-forth contest. SFCC pushed the advantage to 58-49 late in the contest. The Roadrunners were able to make their free throws to seal their fourth consecutive victory to open the season.
Hanson led SFCC with 19 points and eight rebounds. Hanson tied for the team lead in steals with three. Gunnels added 17 points and a team-high five assists. Gunnels tied for the team lead in steals with three. Matthews pitched in with 12 points off the bench for SFCC. Brandtner registered a team-high three blocked shots in the game. As a team, SFCC knocked down 78% of their free throw attempts, including several clutch free throws to help put the game away.
Nov. 9 Wabash Valley College at Moberly
SFCC (5-0) closed out their portion of the Midwest Juco Challenge with a 59-43 victory over Wabash Valley College in Moberly on Saturday morning, Nov. 9. The defensive battle featured six lead changes and two ties.
SFCC led 9-8 with less than 12 minutes remaining in the opening half. Wabash took a 14-11 advantage with about nine minutes remaining. SFCC took the lead back 18-15 with four minutes and 56 seconds remaining in the opening half.
SFCC went on a run to take a 26-17 at halftime. The Roadrunners pushed the advantage to 16 points in the second half at 35-19, which was largest advantage held by either team in the contest. The Roadrunners led 42-29 with about 11 minutes remaining in game and made enough plays to preserve the victory.
The Roadrunners won both games at this event for the first time ever.
"This was a really good weekend for us," said Brown. "We had different guys step up in each game this weekend for us. We have a balanced team who can play a lot of different ways. We can score inside or outside as well as play a bigger lineup or smaller lineup. They are all good kids who are fun to coach. We were ready to play both days this weekend and that's why we were able to come out with two victories."
Brandtner led the team in scoring with 14 points. Hanson pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds. Gunnels led the team in assists with six and tied for the team lead in steals with three along with freshman guard Donta Davis. Garza led the team in blocked shots with two.
David Rohrbach
SFCC Athletics