Chesapeake holds off Raptors, 88-85
WYE MILLS – They do love to make it interesting.
The Skipjacks, who kicked away a late lead in a recent men's basketball loss to Harford Community College, nearly allowed visiting Montgomery College to erase a 15-point deficit in the final five minutes of Wednesday night's game. The Raptors twice missed on potential game-tying 3-pointers, the second on Phoenix Butler-Poole's shot that clanked off the back of the rim in the final seconds as Chesapeake College held on for an 88-85 victory.
"We aim to entertain," said Chesapeake head coach Joel Dearring of the late-game drama.
Dearring said the dramatic ending was part his team's doing and partly due to Rockville's style of play.
"When you get a lead, you tend to let up a little bit, and we knew Rockville was going to battle us for 40 minutes," said Dearring. "They've always been a tough team."
Chesapeake (10-7 overall, 5-5 league) had an 82-67 lead after Gamari Mayfield (six points, 3-for-3 from the field) scored consecutive inside hoops for the Skipjacks. Montgomery, however, answered with a 14-2 run that included two transition layups by Andre Gaines and scoring from five different Raptors to get the visitors within 84-81.
After Chesapeake's Geran Pope missed an inside shot, Montgomery's Timothy Christian shot an air ball on a 3-point attempt and Pope scored on the other end to push Chesapeake's lead to 86-81. The Raptors, however, pulled back within three points on David Barnes' basket before Jimmie Jenkins and Pope each split free throws to leave Chesapeake with an 88-83 lead with 36 seconds remaining.
Christian hit a hoop to get the Raptors back within three points and Chad Church missed a pair of free throws for the Skipjacks with 11.8 seconds remaining, giving Montgomery one last shot at a tie. Butler-Poole's miss allowed Chesapeake to hang on for the win.
Pope (20 points, 12 rebounds), Jenkins (18 points, nine assists, five rebounds) and Akanni Salako (15 points) all scored in double digits for Chesapeake as the Skipjacks won their second straight. Chesapeake's Jahmante Jackson scored eight points while Sam Ijeomah had six points, six rebounds and played good defense down the stretch against Butler-Poole.
The Skipjacks received 29 points from the bench, took seven charges as a team, and had just nine turnovers.
"The pieces are starting to come together. We're getting better defensively – it was 85, not 105," said Dearring, whose team yielded 105 points in consecutive games recently. "And they're growing together as a team."
Gaines scored a game-high 25 points for Montgomery and Butler-Poole added 24 for the Raptors (11-9, 5-5).
Chesapeake hosts the College of Southern Maryland Friday at 7 p.m.