SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine- The #2-seeded Southern Maine Community College (SMCC) men's basketball team defeated #1 New Hampshire Technical Institute (NHTI) 85-74 on Sunday, Feb. 19 to bring home its first Yankee Small College Conference (YSCC) title since 2008.
The back-court tandem of first-year Timothy Dixon (Plainville, Conn.) and sophomore Chase Soares (Falmouth, Mass.) poured in a collective 36 points, 18 apiece. A balanced attack from the SeaWolves landed sophomore Ryan Cloutier (Pelham, N.H.) with 14 and John Morgan (Sanford, Maine) with 13 points and 9 rebounds.
NHTI's J'Quavious Thurman (Monticello, Ga.) led all scorers in the game with 20 points in an efficient 7-11 from the field.
The Lynx scored the first bucket of the game, but SMCC's Michael Harmon (Portland, Maine) jump-started the SeaWolves' offense banging two three-pointers in the early stages. SMCC closed out the first half leading by a seven-point margin.
The SeaWolves led by as many as 18 points courtesy of an emphatic dunk by Cloutier with 4:20 left in regulation. The Lynx clawed their way back closing their deficit to seven points with under a minute to go. A storied ending left Morgan at the free-throw line to hit both to put his team up 11 as time expired. The SMCC bench swarmed the kneeling Morgan at center court as the final buzzer sounded.
The SeaWolves fired 43.7 percent from the floor and dominated the glass—out-rebounding their counterpart 56-32.
View the photo gallery of the game HERE.
Thurman was selected most Outstanding Defensive Player and Soares most Outstanding Offensive Player. Morgan took home more hardware from his weekend's achievements being named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.
Re-live the post-game celebration HERE.
SMCC has punched its ticket to the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) National Tournament in Uniontown, Pa. Feb. 28- March 4. The USCAA National Tournament Selection Committee will release its final Division II seedings on Tuesday, Feb. 21.
For the latest on SMCC's athletic programs, log onto GoSMCCSeawolves.com or follow Southern Maine Community College Athletics on Twitter @SMCCseawolves and on Facebook SMCC Seawolves.
