Auburn, ME – With second place up for grabs in the Yankee Conference, the SMCC SeaWolves traveled to Auburn Monday seeking revenge for a 16-point loss to CM in December. It was not to be. Behind Elijah Barbour's 23 points, and Corey David's floor leadership, the Mustangs took off in the final five minutes to beat the visiting SeaWolves 79-68 Monday.
In front of a loud, sold out, capacity house, the Mustangs—poised and calm, played one of their best games of the semester. In a game where emotions run high, they didn't get caught up in any verbal or physical exchanges; CM maintained their composure and stayed the course the entire game.
The first half was a tight affair with SMCC taking and holding a small lead. SMCC went into halftime with a one-point margin 35-34. The halftime chat was consumed with the Mustangs lack of rebounding. On the defensive side, CM worked hard to take away any inside game and focused on stopping any dribble penetration.
The intensity picked up in the second half with the Mustangs taking a lead and fighting to hang on to it. Corey David and Josh Chery played an unusual 30 minutes each and played key roles in moving the home team to the finish line. David registered 10 points on a 3-6 shooting performance, dished out 6 assists, and had 3 rebounds. However, his floor leadership was superb, controlling tempo, distributing the ball, and putting the ball where it should be- when it should be- to the right person- at the right time. He also played a strong defensive game. Chery was the rock on both sides of the ball. He managed to score 16 points, (6-12 shooting), haul down 7 rebounds, and played his heart out under the basket.
Elijah Barbour was again the shining star from the three-point line. His brash, confident, non-shakable confidence showed again tonight. He hit 7-10 from the long distance line registering 23 points. Cam Duncan anchored the defense holding together the middle of the zone on the defensive end and hit for 8 points on the offensive end. Akeem Laurie and Freddy Webb added 7 points each.
According to Assistant Coach Cyr, "this has always been an exciting, up and down game for us. As a coaching staff, we ask the kids to come to work each day and give 100%. Our kids really came to play today!
The Mustangs finish the regular season 18-5 and hold second place in the Yankee Conference heading into the Yankee tournament next weekend.
