11/28/2011 - Roadrunners Top Southwestern Christian College It wasn’t anything resembling a “must-win” for the Angelina College Roadrunners, but after seeing his young team drop back-to-back games to a pair of the nation’s top junior-college basketball teams, AC head coach Todd Neighbors really wanted to see how his players would respond. The coach was all smiles after the Roadrunners rode a second-half surge to an 84-73 win over Southwestern Christian College Saturday night in the finale of the Guy Davis Thanksgiving Classic at Shands Gym in Lufkin. AC led by 22 points with less than four minutes to play, and Neighbors began substituting freely, allowing the Rams to trim the lead before the final buzzer. Before that, the ‘Runners used a 14-4 run early in the second half to take control. His players’ ability to bounce back from a pair of tough losses gave Neighbors plenty of positives to accentuate in the next film session. “We talked at the half about coming out for those last 20 minutes and trying to get better defensively, to stop allowing penetrations and so many second looks for them,” Neighbors said. “Jaylen (Daniel) came right out and grabbed three boards, and that got us off and running.” Another stat pleasing to Neighbors eyes was the number of team assists. After managing just six the night before in the loss to Midland, the ‘Runners finished with 20 against SWCC. Adding to the big night, according to Neighbors, was the bench play. “Our second group did a tremendous job extending the lead in the second half, and our starters re-entered and kept the pace,” Neighbors said. “We’ve only had a couple of practices in the past few weeks just because of the way our schedule worked, and we’ve got guys playing different positions. We’re literally practicing on the court. We want to be ready for that big stretch of conference games, and this week will give us time to work on a lot of things we need.” Mike Myers led the Roadrunners with 17 points and nine rebounds. LaDerrien Jackson came off the bench to hit three of his five three-point attempts to finish with 15 points; and Daniel and Andre Crear added 11 points each. SWCC’s Stephen Egharevba led the Rams with 19 points, followed by Valentino Thomas with 15. In the day’s earlier action, Ranger College defeated the Texas Riders by a 74-65 score; Jacksonville squeaked out a 75-73 win over 9th-ranked Midland; and Navarro beat Tomball 94-65 despite 11 three-pointers from Tomball’s Gerry Glover. AC (8-3, 0-1) will resume action with a huge conference home game Saturday against Blinn College as part of a doubleheader with the Lady Roadrunners. Game times are 2 p.m. for the Lady ‘Runners and 4 p.m. for the men.
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