Johnson County Community College
Press Release

College Information and Publications
913-469-8500
Julie Haas, Director, ext. 3120
Peggy Graham, Writer, ext. 3425
Tyler Cundith, Sports Information Director, ext. 3122

3/12/2008
Story by Tyler Cundith

Cavaliers fall in district final

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. -- The Johnson County Community College men’s basketball team missed its bid to return the NJCAA Division II National Tournament Tuesday night, falling 76-67 to cross-town rival Penn Valley Community College in the District 10 Championship.

The Cavaliers, 21-12, dug themselves a hole with a poor shooting effort in the first half, and couldn’t recover.  JCCC trailed by as many as 14, and were down by 10 at halftime after shooting just 24 percent from the field, and 14 percent from 3-point range, hitting just 2-of-14 behind the arch.

JCCC made a valiant effort to comeback in the second half, cutting their deficit to five points, but every time in appeared the Cavaliers would get back in the game, Penn Valley would counter with a big basket from their leading scorer Edriss Floyd.  The sophomore guard scored 11 of his 15 points in the second half, along with all three of his 3-pointers. 

JCCC’s top three scorers this season couldn’t find their range in the first half, as freshmen Nafis Ricks and Kyle Speed, and sophomore Q Totta were a combined 4-of-19, and 1-of-7 from 3-point range.  But Ricks and Totta got on track in the second half.  Ricks was 4-of-6 from the field, and 6-of-7 at the line, finishing with a game-high 21 points.  Totta hit 5-of-7 shots, and all three of his free throws to finish with 16 points.  Additionally, reserve sophomore guard Melvin Cole finished with 11 points, eight coming in the second half.

Early in the first half it appeared JCCC got a huge break when Floyd picked up is second foul and had to take a seat.  But JCCC’s poor shooting, coupled by play of forward Gregory Smith, helped Penn Valley jump out to a 30-20 halftime lead.  Smith scored nine of his 16 points, and pulled down 14 of his game-high 16 rebounds in the first 20 minutes.  Seven of his rebounds were on the offensive end which led to several second-chance opportunities for the Scouts.

Despite the loss, the Cavaliers had a memorable season.  They finished No. 14 in the final NJCAA D-II poll, and their 21 victories are the most since 2001-02, and tie the second-best season total in the 17-year tenure of head coach Mike Jeffers.

Individually, Ricks led the team in scoring (15.4), rebounding (7.4) and steals (87). His 87 steals tie the fifth-best season in school history.  Speed was second in scoring (12.9) and steals (81), and led the team with 147 assists, an average of 4.5 per game.  Speed’s 81 steals rank him tied for 11th on the season chart.   Totta finished with an 11.1 per game scoring average, and tied Speed for second with 45 3-point field goals.  However, Totta shot an impressive 43 percent behind the arch, which ranks fourth all-time at JCCC, and has him poised to finish among the top 15 in that category nationally. Finally, Cole led the squad with 57 3-point field goals, which rank him 15th on the JCCC’s season chart.