South Plains Opens With Hard Earned Win
South Plains College has found a permanent-temporary home in Hutchinson, KS, the site of the Men’s DI National Championship since 1949. The Texans haven’t been coming to Hutch that long, but this was their fifth consecutive appearance, and 12th overall. Legendary Hall of Fame Head Coach Steve Green, in his 21st at the control board for SPC, is the only Coach in NJCAA history to have won three National Championships (2008, 2012, and 2018). Will he get his fourth this year?
Is this going to be just another win for the Texans at Hutch? Not so fast! Bring on the Hawks from South Georgia State College, the No. 21 seed as the Southeast District Champions. Under Head Coach Cory Baldwin, in his 12th season at SGSC, the upstart Hawks traveled to Hutch for just the programs second time ever, was set on changing history.
The first appearance for the team from Waycross or Douglas (two campuses in close proximity), was in 2011 when the team went by Waycross College. In the first round, South Georgia State upset No. 12 seed Salt Lake CC, 93-89 in OT, who have a fairly impressive Hutch history of their own.
The game started out with 3 lead changes and a tie until the 10:20 mark. That’s when South Plains put together a little run of 9 straight to turn a 19-18 lead into a ten point difference. The lead fluctuated in double digits all the way to the :37 mark when the Hawks Daniel Perrish’s lay-up to cut the lead to 9, 45-36, which is the score at halftime.
Durning the first 240 seconds of the second period, South Plains increased their margin to 16 with just under 15 minutes to play. South Georgia State was able to stabilize to keep the separation from getting out of control.
Trailing by 12 with 5:14 left, SGSC went on a little spurt to pull within five, at 81-76, following two made free throws by Perrish. But it was too litlle too late for the Hawks as SPC stopped the bleed out, pushing the lead back to double digits. The Texans largest lead was 17 late in the first half. The final margin was 11, as South Plains advances to the quarterfinals with the 91-80 victory.
South Plains Head Coach Steve Green had high praises for his opponent, “we went on a couple of spurts which was probably the differnece in the game, but I’ve got to give them a lot of credit, they’re scrappy, the made some plays late, hit some timely threes, we expected them to play that way. But we figured out a way to win.”
The win puts SPC in the quarterfinals and advances their record to 18-2, ending their 2 game losing streak leading into the tournament. The Texans will match up with familiar Region 5 rival Ranger College at 6:00 Thursday, April 22.
Leading South Plains in scoring was Rivaldo Soars. The 6’6″ SO from Boston, MA was responsible for game high 20 points, a team high 9 rebounds and also dished out 5 assist. Dalph Panopio was the team leader in helpers with 6. Javonnie Scott had 18, on 8-9 shooting from the field. Rounding out the double digit scorers: Panopio totaled 13, twelve each for Benjamin Bayela and Myron Gardner, and eleven for Philmon Gerewhit.
The special season ends for South Georgia State. Their record falls to 24-4. When asked about the run his team made to get to and in the national tournament, he had this reply, “can say enough about our Sophomores (8 of team’s top ten players), they put us on the map. We’ve been so close the last five or six years (in qualifying to get to the tournament), and these guys got us over the hump.” We had a couple of freshmen who played minor rolls all season, that played big rolls here due to foul trouble. Jamonte Wallace and Zae Wiggins), and we’re hoping they will build off that.”
Top producer for the Hawks was Jalen King, a 6’5″ SO from Columbus, GA, who double-doubled with 20 points and 10 boards. Jordan Coffee ended up with 17, Daniel Perrish popped in 15 with team lead 6 dimes, and fifteen for Bryce Brown.
