Second Half Stumble Ruins Owls Return To Play
| Final | 1 | 2 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Prince George's Community College (0-1, 0-0) | 49 | 21 | 70 |
|
Northampton Community College (1-0, 0-0) | 34 | 51 | 85 |
The Prince George's Community College men's basketball team came up short in their season opener on the road against Northampton Community College, falling to the Spartans 85-70.
The Spartans entered the season as number 11 on the 2021-22 NJCAA Division III Men's Basketball preseason poll, but it appeared as if the Owls were the ranked team in the first half as they built up a 15-point lead while shooting a collective 52% from the floor. The Owls Saveon Jackson (Landover, MD) scored the first basket of the year for Prince George's on a short jumper inside the paint. A tightly contested matchup for the next ten minutes of action was followed by an 18-2 run by the Owls to take a 44-28 lead with just over three minutes remaining in the first half. Prince George's led by as many as 17 points as the half winded down before going into the break with a 49-34 lead.
Unfortunately for Prince George's, the Spartans were able to flip the script in the second half as they dug in on defense and forced the Owls to take difficult shots. Northampton put together a 16-2 run early on in the second half to come to within two points of the Owls, with Prince George's clinging to a 54-52 lead with 13 minutes to go. The Owls surrendered a separate 15-2 stretch not much later to find themselves trailing 67-58 now with under 8 minutes left.
Prince George's was able to keep within striking distance, coming to within 6 after consecutive made free throws from sophomore Deonta Dunlap (Baltimore, MD), to trail 73-67 with 4:25 remaining. Northampton was able to convert their free throws over the closing minutes and hand the Owls a 85-70 loss.
Freshman Anthony Perry (Bowie, MD) finished as the Owls leading scorer with 15 points. Prince George's finished 19 for 23 from the charity stripe but failed to get the three ball to go, shooting under 22% on the day.
The Owls will have a few days to reset before another road trip against a divisional opponent when they travel to Lancaster, Pennsylvania to take on Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology this Saturday, November 6th. Tip-off is set for 1 pm.
