November 5, 2004
SAINTS BASKETBALL OPENS SEASON WITH A WIN OVER SNU
The 2004-05 basketball season is underway this weekend, as the Seward County Saints and Lady Saints host the 2004 Pepsi Classic. In the Saints opening game they defeated an overmatched Southern Nazarene University JV (SNU) 104-50. The Saints (1-0, 0-0) led from the tip-off and didn’t allow a single SNU point until 12:20 was left in the first half.
Saints head coach Dave Brown was able to experiment Thursday evening as he used all 13 players in the game, with each player seeing at least nine minutes of action. Leading the way for the Saints was sophomore Brian McCarther, who was 6-for-7 from the field and a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line to lead all Saints scorers with 16 points. McCarther also had three steals and four rebounds for the Saints.
The Saints leading scorer a year ago, Keoni Watson, made his presence felt early as he drained a wide open three-pointer just after the Saints won the opening tip-off. Watson who saw 17 minutes of playing time had 10 points, four assists and three steals.
The SCCC big men were kept busy last night as they out rebounded SNU 54-29. Leading the Saints in rebounding was 6’6” freshman Preston Sims, who had two offensive and five defensive rebounds in 16 minutes of play. Sims also chipped in 10 points for the Saints.
Seward County had six players reach double figures in scoring, including, McCarther (16), Raynard Sawyer (14), Steve Vanarsdale (12), Sims (10), Calvin Gabel (10) and Watson (10). The Saints field goal percentage would have been tough to match by any team last night as they shot .625 (40 FG/64 FGA), but the Saints shot just .571 from the free throw line (20 FT/35 FTA).
In the opening game of the Pepsi Classic, Rose State College defeated Fort Scott Community College 87-82. The Saints will take on Fort Scott Friday evening at 8:00 p.m., and will face Rose State Saturday night at 8:00 p.m. The Saints Friday evening contest will follow the season opening game for the Lady Saints, who will face Highland Community College at 6:00 p.m. Highland is coached by former SCCC Lady Saint, Toby Harbin.
BOX SCORE vs. Southern Nazarene University J.V.
