By Chad Clevenger
McPHERSON, Kan. (CCCTigers.com) – The Central Tigers had 5 players score in double figures, and forced the Thunder to 22 turnovers in a 86-63 win over Manhattan Christian College Saturday night in front of the Homecoming crowd, to move their record to 4-0 heading into SAC play.
Balanced scoring, quality bench play, Winning the rebounding and Turnover war, and limiting their own turnovers are what coaches look for, and that is what Coach Tony Romero and the Homecoming crowd were able to see at Alexander Arena. Jevarrick Butler (14), Chris Whitten (13), Omari Maulana (13), Jaeden Whitten (12), and Travis King (10), led a balanced scoring attack where 11 Tigers got in the scoring column.
The Tigers held a 40-33 lead at the half, and an 8-0 run early in the 2nd half put the Tigers up 15 early with 3’s by Whitten and Butler. They followed that run by another run of 10-0, where the Tigers forced a few off balanced Thunder shots, and from there the Tigers were able to cruise to a 23 point win.
Defensively, the Tigers were able to hold Thunder Leading scoring Davis Rockey who scored 32 points in his previous game, to 9 points, 11 below his average, and were able to force the Thunder to 22 turnovers.
Key Stat: Tigers bench produced 37 points, led by Jaeden Whitten’s 12, and 10 from Travis King.
Tiger Leaders:
Points: Jevarrick Butler (14)
Rebounds: Andre Shelby (7)
Assists: Omari Maulana (5)
Steals: Jevarrick Butler (5)
Blocks: Jevarrick Butler (1), Andre Shelby (1)
Coaches Comment:
“It is great for our team and school to get a win on homecoming weekend. This was our last tune up before conference play begins next week, it was important for us to finish off this part of our schedule strong. Manhattan is a very well coached team, we knew we were going to have to come in and defend well. We challenged our guys to do a better job defending the 3 point line, we know MCC is capable of beating you there. I thought we saw some improvements in that area by holding them to 25%. Their big kid was coming off a game in which he scored 32 points the day before. We did a decent job containing him. Offensively, we had good balance from our starters and good production off the bench. We were able to get some stops on defense which allowed us to get out and make some plays in transition. We also took some steps getting some baskets from our frontline play. I thought Shelby, Travis, and Andruw all were solid tonight. I was pleased with the second half energy and aggression, we had a good start to the half where we were able to grow our lead. Overall, I believe we are seeing some really positive things from our team’s connection in the non-conference part of our schedule.”
-Coach Tony Romero
The Tigers (4-0) will open SAC play on Thursday at Oklahoma Panhandle State (1-1). The game will tip at 7:45pm, and can be seen on the SAC Sports Network.
