Hillsboro, Kan. -The Warrior men’s basketball team continues to play its best season of basketball since the 2013-14 season; the last time they played in the KCAC Tournament Championship. Saturday night Sterling was able to make it three wins in a row with a 71-59 win over the Tabor Bluejays. With the win, Sterling sits in 4th place in the KCAC regular season standings after being projected to finish dead last in the conference.
After 4 minutes of basketball where the Warriors and Bluejays traded leads, Sterling took a lead they would not relinquish for the rest of the game. Trailing 5-4, Lucas Briar stepped up for a big 3 pointer that gave Sterling a 7-5 lead. Sterling spent the next 15 minutes steadily building a 22 point lead at halftime. Sterling found its spark off the bench. Kavonte Kinney scored 5 straight points for the Warriors which took the Sterling lead from 1 to 6 points. Kinney scored all 9 of his points in the first half. Adding a little flare, Kinney added a two-handed dunk from a delivery by Will Thigpen that add some energy for Sterling.
Another spark off the bench was Chris Drake who owned the boards, gathering 6 first half rebounds and scoring 5 points. Several mini-runs for Sterling helped them to build their lead even though there was not a long, sustained run that you usually see when building a lead like theirs. The highlight of the first half came as time expired. After a pair of Bluejay free throws, there was just enough time for a heave by the Warriors. Cedric Rollerson gathered the ball and tossed it from the far free throw line near the Warrior sideline and banked it in as the horn sounded. After a quick replay review, the basket was counted and Sterling took a 41-19 lead into the locker room. Sterling’s defense stepped up in a big way to allow just the 19 points in the first 20 minutes.
Coming out of the break with a big lead is not anything new for the Warriors this season. Keeping the big lead has been the hard part. Several times their big leads have dwindled to single digits, once heading to overtime before the Warriors pulled it out. Sterling maintained a lead of over 20 points until the Bluejays went on a 3 minute, 8-0 run to cut the lead to 13. That is where the lead stayed most of the second half. The Bluejays made one run with 6 minutes to play in regulation and cut the lead to 7. Sterling quickly built the lead back up to double figures where it stayed the rest of the game. The Warriors scored their last 9 points on free throws as Tabor tried to stop time and gain possessions in a last-ditch effort to come back. Cedric Rollerson managed the final 6 minutes from the point guard position. He scored all 12 of his second half points in the last 6 minutes of regulation. Sterling walked away with a 71-59 win over the Bluejays, tying the season series at 1 game a piece.
Cedric Rollerson led the Warriors in scoring with 20 points and added 4 rebounds. Will Thigpen gained another double-double on the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds. The Warriors have won 3 games in a row, improving their overall record to 12-7. In KCAC play, Sterling is 8-5 which is currently good enough for 4th place in the league.
The Warriors have a quick turnaround and head to York University on Monday afternoon. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 pm on York, Neb.
