BASKETBALL: No. 21 Wranglers too much for Chaps in blowout
The Midland College men’s basketball team knew it needed a tremendous performance against a deep and talented Odessa College team on Thursday night.
By Oscar LeRoy
Midland Reporter-Telegram
ODESSA, TEXAS - The Midland College men's basketball team knew it needed a tremendous performance against a deep and talented Odessa College team on Thursday night.
The Chaparrals didn't get it and the No. 21-ranked Wranglers took advantage of it as OC ran past rival Midland College, 98-60, at the OC Sports Center to stay undefeated in the Western Junior College Athletic Conference.
The loss for the Chaparrals (10-9, 3-3) was their sixth in the last seven games. Three of those losses came in a tough stretch of playing four games in eight days.
The Wranglers (14-5, 5-0 in the WJCAC) took full advantage of the Chaps' challenging schedule when they used 15 players to turn up the defensive pressure and force 27 turnovers.
"Our depth really helps us," OC coach Kris Baumann said. "I think it holds us accountable. Because if guys don't take care of the basketball or play with the right kind of energy, then you can get somebody else that's ready to go in and play. I don't know if it's peer pressure, more than anything it's kind of taking care of your brother. If one guy's not doing the job, get another guy who's ready to go in and play. But to do that, you've got to have a lot of unselfish guys and we do."
MC coach Pat Rafferty said the Chaps' effort fell shy of what he expected.
"I'm just disappointed," he said. "I didn't think we competed very hard. We didn't compete with very much confidence. We were soft with the basketball. We got the ball in some great areas and we didn't do much with it at times. And when we give up that many second-chance points, it's hard to compete. I didn't think we competed very hard and I thought we were kind of intimidated.
"Give (the Wranglers) credit. They've got a bunch of guys and they keep coming at you, coming at you. I didn't think we took a punch very well or gave a punch."
The game was fairly close in the first half until the Wranglers turned up the pressure to take a 46-26 halftime lead.
The Chaps never recovered.
"(Rafferty's) got some young guys over there and if you ask him, the one thing they've struggled with is turning it over," Baumann said. "We knew that we kind of had to turn up the pressure a little bit and try to get them to turn it over and speed them up. If they get you in the half court, they can really grind you out, so we wanted to make it into a more up-tempo game, and I think we did a really good job."
All but one of the 15 Wranglers who played scored, and as a team OC shot 60.3% for the game and 48.3% from 3-point range. They were led by Darrell Armstrong Jr. with 15 points off the bench and Tre Richardson, who also came off the bench for 11 points.
Trent Johnson led MC with 18 points, while Steven Richardson and Oliver Hayward each added 15.
MC will look to regroup at 8 p.m. Monday when it travels to Roswell, New Mexico, to play New Mexico Military Institute.
Follow Oscar on Twitter: @OLeRoy_MRT
NO. 21 ODESSA COLLEGE 98, MIDLAND COLLEGE 60
Midland College (10-9, 3-3) – Matteo Tersillo 1-3 0-0 3, Christian Villegas 0-1 2-2 2, Trent Johnson 8-13 2-3 18, Steven Richardson 5-10 1-3 15, Oliver Hayward 3-9 9-11 15, Jaden Henderson 0-3 0-0 0, Wunya Brown 0-1 0-0 0, Franklin Agu 3-7 1-4 7. Totals 20-47 15-23 60
Odessa College (14-5, 5-0) – Dian Wright-Forde 2-32-2 6, Daniss Jenkins 3-6 1-2 9, Daniel Rivera 3-5 0-0 6, Dontrell Hewlett 3-8 0-0 6, Mike Rivera 3-3 0-0 8, BJ Francis 0-0 0-0 0, Puoch Dubuol 1-3 2-5 5, Darrell Armstrong Jr. 5-6 0-0 15, Terry Brown 3-4 0-0 9, Anthony Marshall 3-5 0-0 6, Garfield Turner 5-6 0-2 11, Tre Richardson 1-5 0-0 3, Chandler Cuthrell 1-3 0-0 2, Shakeem Alcindor 1-2 2-2 4, Kiree Huie 4-4 0-0 8. Totals 38-63 8-13 98
Halftime – OC 46, MC 26. 3-point goals – MC 5-12 (Richardson 4-7, Tersillo 1-2, Villegas 0-1, Johnson 0-1, Henderson 0-1), OC (Armstrong 5-6, Brown 3-3, Jenkins 2-4, Rivers 2-2, Alcindor 2-2, Turner 1-1, Richardson 1-5, Wright-Forde 0-1, Dubuol 0-1, Marshall 0-1, Cuthrell 0-1). Total fouls – MC 11, OC 24. Fouled out -- Huie. Rebounds – MC 24 (Johnson 7), OC 31 (Turner 7). Assists – MC 8 (Villegas 6), OC 21 (Jenkins 8). Turnovers – MC 27, OC 17.
2021-22 WJCAC men's basketball standings
Conference Overall
W/ L W/L
Odessa College 5/0 14/5
South Plains College 4/1 10/7
Howard College 3/2 11/6
New Mexico JC 3/2 11/8
New Mexico Military 3/2 11/8
Midland College 3/3 10/9
Western Texas 1/4 11/8
Frank Phillips 1/4 10/8
Clarendon College 1/5 6/13
Thursday's Scores
Odessa College 98, Midland College 60; Howard College 77, Frank Phillips College 41; South Plains College 87, Clarendon College 63; New Mexico JC 82, New Mexico Military Institute 77, OT; Western Texas College was open
Monday's Games
Midland College at New Mexico Military Institute; Odessa College at Frank Phillips College; New Mexico JC at Howard College; Western Texas College at South Plains College; Clarendon College is open
CLICK HERE for 2021-22 Season Schedule
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