2/18/15 • By Zach Chriswell / zchriswell@columbustelegram.com
COLUMBUS -- It was a game of runs and that finally caught up to the Raiders in the second half.
The Central Community College men's basketball team lost to National Junior College Athletic Association Division I, No. 23 Northeast Community College 83-64 Wednesday at the Raider Fieldhouse.
"I thought we played really well for about 30 minutes," Central head coach Jerry Drymon said. "That's a nationally-ranked Division I program, who is having their best season in the history of the school. For 30 minutes, we played really good basketball. Then they kind of wore us down with their size and we kind of lost focus of things that were important in the scouting report and it got away from us a little bit in the end."
Though the Hawks are a Division I team and ranked 23rd, the Raiders weren't intimidated, trading leads until Central took a 17-11 lead early in the first half.
Northeast fought back with a 10-0 run to own a 21-17 lead before a Central timeout.
After the timeout, the Raiders ran to a 17-4 run to take a 34-25 lead.
An 8-1 Northeast run following another timeout cut the Central lead to just two points, but the Raiders stayed in the lead through the end of the first half, claiming a 43-40 lead at halftime.
"We did a pretty good job of managing their runs," Drymon said. "They would make a 4-0, 6-0 run and we would come right back with a run. To be able to compete with good teams, you have to understand that they're going to make runs, you just have to be able to shorten those runs and counter back with your own runs. We shot a high percentage in the first half and we were aggressive and played with a sense of urgency."
Thomas Johnson had 17 points at the end of the first half.
"He was aggressive," Drymon said. "He was looking for his shot and he was aggressive in his offensive mindset. We try to get all of our guys to be aggressive offensively and look for good shots. When their hands are down, he's going to make some shots."
But again, the Hawks went on a run to open the second half, this time 10-0 to regain the lead.
Johnson broke the run with five points, but Northeast rattled off an 8-0 run to take a 58-48 lead.
"In the first little bit (of the second half), they made that run and we got back in it. Then they made another run," Drymon said. "They just have a lot of size and athleticism that we don't have, which kind of wore us down inside and we didn't have a counter back from that."
Central's 9-0 run, immediately following the 10-point deficit, cut the Hawks lead to one point.
But then a 13-0 Northeast run pretty much sealed the deal for the Hawks.
In the end, it was the interior play that gave Northeast the spark it needed.
"Their interior play was the (difference-maker)," Drymon said. "(Chima Moneke) is a really good ball player, but they got a lot more shots in the paint area. They turned us over a couple times at half court to kind of fuel some of those runs."
Johnson finished with a game-high 27 points, while Connor Long added 17.
Central finished up the regular season Sunday in McCook.
Wednesday at the Raider Fieldhouse
Northeast 40 43 - 83
Central (7-22) 43 21 - 64
* NORTHEAST (field goals-free throws-fouls-points) - LJ Westbrook 3 2-4 2 8; Peirre Conwell 2 0-1 2 4; Jalen Bradley 7 0-0 0 15; Kevin Metoyer 1 0-0 0 2; Chima Moneke 6 6-9 1 18; Dionte Smith 2 0-0 0 4; Buay Tuach 8 2-2 3 22; Torrell Sutton 3 0-1 3 6; Boris Rajovic 2 0-0 2 4. Totals 34 10-17 13 83.
* CENTRAL - Ojuok Thok 1 2-2 0 5; Shawn Robinson 1 4-4 0 6; Matthew McLeod 1 0-0 4 2; Tyrone Clayton 2 0-0 2 5; Thomas Johnson 10 2-5 4 27; Connor Long 7 2-2 0 17; David Joachim 1 0-0 3 2; Daniel Maganda 0 0-0 1 0. Totals 23 10-13 14 64.
* 3-point field goals - Northeast 5 (Tuach 4, Bradley 1), Central 8 (Johnson 5, Thok 1, Clayton 1, Long 1).