Costly Victory for the Warriors

ASTORIA, NY- Saturday  afternoon December 21, at the Elmcor Recreation Center, the Vaughn College Warriors entered their contest against Southern Maine Community College (SMCC) undermanned. Several keys players for the Warriors were unable to play do to sickness and nagging injuries. Injuries have plagued the Warriors all season which have allowed other players to emerge during their absence. Learning how to play with constant line-up changes has been challenging for the Warriors. Head coach Ricky McCollum (Uccon) has done a great job preparing all of his players to perform during games regardless of who is available to play.

At the half, the Warriors found themselves trailing SMCC 30-36. The Warriors were able to remain within striking distance of SMCC despite shooting a dismal 35.7 percent from the field. SMCC had a well balanced attack with four players scoring six or more points at the break. Vaughn College sophomore forward Moises Chaucer (Bronx, NY) was the high man at the half pouring in 13 points to lead all scorers. Chaucer recorded his best game of the season for the Warriors. He finished the game with a double- double, 17 points and 11 rebounds.

The second half was a thriller as the Vaughn College Warriors and SMCC fought hard against each other for another 20 minutes. Jose Nouchanthavong (SMCC) and Tong Akot (SMCC) were absolute stars during the game scoring 19 points and 18 points respectively. Nouchanthavong and Akot connected on over 50 percent of their field goal attempts and pulled down 15 rebounds between the two of them. Scott Proudman (SMCC) chipped 12 points and five rebounds.

Senior captain guard Jared Ndiba (Roxbury, NJ) played the role of hero once again for the Warriors as he hit key timely shots down the final stretch of the game. Ndiba was ineffective in the first half failing to get on the score board, but woke up in the second half scoring a team high 19 points for the Warriors.

After trailing most of the game to SMCC, the Warriors took a 62-61 lead with seven minutes left to go. The Warriors went up as many as five points before SMCC tied the game. Both teams were unable to close the game out down the stretch. Ndiba hit a jump shot to put the Warriors ahead of SMCC 79-77 with 30 seconds left in the game. Davis Nicholson (SMCC) answered with a jump shot of his own, with nine seconds to go, sending the game into overtime.

 Vaughn College defeated SMCC in overtime 90-86.  SMCC was the number four team nationally in the USCAA. This marks the first time that Vaughn has defeated a nationally ranked opponent.

Senior forward Jeffrey Noel (Brooklyn, NY) suffered a scary knee injury during the latter part of the game. Noel recorded 18 points in the game before he went down; grabbing his right knee, in what was a frightening scene. Noel will have testing done on his knee to determine the severity of his injury.