By SUSAN DENK
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A team’s true character can only been seen when it faces adversity, or when it plays against its biggest rival in the biggest game of the season.
The Southeastern Community College basketball team showed everyone what it is made of Saturday night at Loren Walker Arena.
The Blackhawks battled back from a 12-point second half deficit to stun Region XI rival Indian Hills 74-66.
The Blackhawks played with cramps and a torn-up knee. SCC was back home for the first time in nearly a month, and facing a team that had held its last three opponents under 50 points.
Yet the Blackhawks finished the game on top, now in a three-way tie for the conference lead after Iowa Western’s 78-60 victory over Marshalltown.
“That is what college basketball is all about I guess,” said SCC coach Terry Carroll, who coached the Warriors for nine years, leading them to a pair of national championships.
“It was a tremendous team effort. I’ve never been more proud of a group of guys. We had guys with charley horses. Marquez (Davis) is out there playing with a torn MCLCQR, whatever it is. He’s going to have to have an operation as soon as the season’s over. He’s just out there playing on guts right now.That’s a lot of guts and a lot of toughness shown by our team tonight.”
The Blackhawks led early until Dwight Buycks started draining 3-pointers like they were point-blank layups and Indian Hills headed to the halftime locker room up by six.
The Warriors spread the advantage to 12 points five minutes into the half. The Blackhawks took a timeout to regroup, and came back onto the floor with new purpose.
Luis Garcia hit a 3-pointer and a pair of free throws. C.J. Wilkerson — taunted by Indian Hills fans for a missed dunk minutes earlier — came up with a steal and a statement dunk to shush the hecklers.
Pretty soon, the Blackhawks trailed by just one.
That is when Cecil Stinson stepped in.
The sophomore hit three consecutive 3-pointers — the final as the shot clock expired — as SCC built a five-point lead with less than 30 seconds to go.
“The (shots) Cecil hit were huge. Just a tough, tough competitive guy who stepped up and made those plays,” Carroll said. “I was happy for him because there’s nobody that works harder and exemplifies what we’re trying to do more than him. It’s nice to see him get a chance to get a big reward when it counts most.
“It’s a 40-minute game so you always have to stick with it,” said Stinson, who finished with 20 points. “The best thing that you can do, you just have to try and stay close, keep chipping away. You can’t get everything back at once. If you make the right decisions and play hard and smart and together as team, then you can do anything.”
The Warriors hung tough as well, taking advantage of multiple looks at the basket when the Blackhawks failed to corral the rebounds.
Roberto Mafra sealed the win for SCC.
The sophomore made a pair of free throws with 15.5 seconds remaining for a 70-66 lead. Indian Hills took the ball down the floor. Rico Harris put up a shot Mafra turned back and Stinson grabbed the rejected ball. Stinson was immediately fouled, where he made both free throws. Between the foul shots, during an SCC timeout, Indian Hills Jeff Kidder was whistled for a technical foul. Mafra made both of those attempts for the final margin.
“We did what we did in practice and we played hard,” said Mafra, who suffered from cramps during the game.
“When we came into this game we knew it was going to be a big game because of the traditional rivalry with Indian Hills,” said Stinson. “This being my first year, I didn’t know too much but everyone was saying you’d better be ready to play because it’s going to be packed in here and they were surely right.”
INDIAN HILLS (66)
Dwight Hardy 3-11 0-0 8, LaRon Dendy 5-8 0-2 11, Rico Harris 3-7 2-4 9, Xavier Collier 1-3 0-0 3, Damian Windham 0-1 0-0 0, Dwight Buycks 7-18 0-0 19, Leon Powell 5-9 4-6 14, Aleksandar Vuletic 0-0 0-0 0, Christopher Vines 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 25-58 6-12 66.
SOUTHEASTERN (74)
Cecil Stinson 7-11 3-4 20, C.J. Wilkerson 4-7 1-4 10, James Harvey 0-1 0-0 0, T.J. Jones 1-1 2-2 5,Luis Garcia 3-6 2-3 10, Andre Elliott 0-2 0-0 0, Marquez Davis 1-7 0-0 2, Antonio Brimley 0-1 0-0 0, Josh Watznauer 0-0 0-0 0, Roberto Mafra 9-13 8-8 26. Totals: 25-49 16-21 74.
Halftime: Indian Hills 31, Southeastern 25. Rebounds: Indian Hills 27 (Dendy 6), Southeastern 33 (Mafra 8). Assists: Indian Hills 13 (Harris 8), Southeastern 10 (Stinson 5). Team fouls: Indian Hillls 20, Southeastern 11. Technicals: Indian Hills bench. 3-point goals: Indian Hills 10-24 (Hardy 2-8, Dendy 1-3, Harris 1-1, Collier 1-2, Buycks 5-10), Southeastern 8-11 (Stinson 3-5, Wilkerson 1-1, Jones 1-1, Garcia 2-2, Davis 1-2). Steals: Indian Hills 7 (Harris 3), Southeastern 4 (Stinson, Wilkerson, Jones, Brimley). Blocks: Indian Hills 1 (Buycks), Southeastern 6 (Mafra 4). Turnovers: Indian Hills 9, Southeastern 15.
Records: Southeastern 14-10 (2-1), Indian Hills 18-6 (2-1).
For more of Susan Denk’s post-game, read her blog at www3.thehawkeye.com/pressbox_blog
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