Chesapeake men earn top seed in Region XX-B
WYE MILLS – Hard work – and not a little bit of good fortune – has the Chesapeake College men’s basketball team favored to win its first national tournament berth ever.
The hard work has to do with the 17-win regular season that included victories over three of the five teams that finished ahead of the Skipjacks in the 16-team Maryland Junior College Athletic Conference standings. The good fortune was the second national tournament berth awarded to NJCAA Division II Region XX this year, and the fact that Chesapeake is in the sub-regional that doesn’t include a Community College of Beaver County team ranked No. 1 in the nation.
“That is something positive,” said Chesapeake head coach Joel Dearring. “We earned that second spot. We only lost two games in the region – one to Beaver and one to Garrett. It worked out for us.”
Beaver County (24-0) is averaging a nation’s-best 108.2 points-per-game, including a 141-61 win over Butler County Community College in its most recent outing. The Titans are the top seed in Region XX-A (District XIV) while Chesapeake (17-11) is seeded second overall and is the top seed in Region XX-B (District XV).
Chesapeake’s five-team sub-regional includes overall third seed Howard Community College (14-12) and overall sixth seeded Northern Virginia Community College (12-12), which play each other in Saturday’s 7 p.m. sub-regional semifinal at Hagerstown Community College. The Skipjacks play the 5 p.m. semifinal against the winner of Friday’s play-in game between seventh-seeded Garrett College (16-12) and 10th-seeded College of Southern Maryland (10-17).
The final is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Sunday, also at Hagerstown Community College.
Chesapeake defeated every team in its sub-regional except Garrett, dropping a 90-84 decision to the Lakers in December after Garrett nearly blew a 25-point lead.
Still, Dearring is taking nothing for granted.
“You know, watching college basketball for many, many years, what they put on paper doesn’t mean a thing if you don’t do it on the floor,” said Dearring. “Our goal all season long has been to win the region and go to nationals. I’ve gone on record to say we plan to be in Danville (at the site of the national tournament).”
The Skipjacks don’t bring a lot of momentum into the sub-regional, having been blown out by Frederick Community College in the state quarterfinals and then dropping a 79-69 decision to the U.S. Naval Academy plebes on Monday night. Chesapeake only scored 30 second-half points while allowing a 39-32 halftime lead to slip away against the Midshipmen.
The Skipjacks – one of the state’s most prolific offenses for most of the season – suddenly seem to be feeling the effects of losing Jimmie Jenkins, who is out with a torn meniscus. Jenkins, who was averaging 24.5 points, 9.2 rebounds and 5.0 assists when he was injured, is currently listed as unavailable for this weekend.
Chesapeake won four straight immediately after Jenkins’ injury, but is averaging only 64.5 points per game over the last two losses. The Skipjacks now have only three healthy players – Akanni Salako (17.9 points per game, 4.6 rebounds per contest), Geran Pope (14.4 points, 13.8 rebounds) and Chad Church (11.2 points, 8.3 rebounds) – with double-figure scoring averages.
Three other players – Kevin Bonsu and Jahmante Jackson at 6.8 each, and Justin May at 6.2 – have provided offensive sparks at times. So has Dion Bivens, who scored 15 points in the Skipjacks’ first-round state tournament win over CCBC-Essex.
Dearring indicated he looked at the last two games as little more than tune-ups for the regional tournament.
“The two games we played would have been really nice to win, but it’s like parsley on the dinner plate,” said Dearring, noting neither loss counted toward regional seeding. “We’ll see on Saturday and Sunday if we’re ready to eat the meal.”
Dearring, who has claimed from the start of the season that his sophomore-laden team was capable of earing a national tournament berth, isn’t wavering now.
“We’re Chesapeake,” said Dearring. “We believe we’ll do what we’re supposed to do when we’re supposed to do it. If we don’t win with eight sophomores, it’s on us.”