Raptors Rout Rowan College Men’s Team in Home Opener
#2 Tyran Crawford, shooting guard, going up for an easy layup over #2 Aaron Castro, point guard.
November 22, 2019
The Montgomery College Raptors won in blowout fashion against the Rowan College Barons 85-50 in their first home game. Star guard, Isaiah Jennings, fresh off his first triple double, led all players in scoring with an efficient 16 points off of 13 shots.
Like the Lady Raptors, the Raptors also fell behind to a quick 10-point deficit. Coach Keith Byrd called a timeout to bring his players together and calm their nerves.
“When it’s your first home, you wanted the guys to settle down. So, we just needed to settle down. Once we settled down and the guys understood what we had to do, the game changed. It’s the first time being home, they’ve been on the road for the past 4 games and for them to be home, they just got a little overly excited,” said Coach Byrd after the game.
Returning from their timeout, the Raptors scored 12 unanswered points to go up by two and never let go of the lead. It was a game of dunks, dimes, and domination from downtown. The Raptors had 23 total team assists and 7 three pointers made, tripling and doubling their opponents totals respectively. The Raptors also had almost twice as many field goals made as the Barons did (33-18) while shooting at 45 percent. The Raptors also dominated with more than twice as many points in the paint (44-20), more than twice as many points off turnovers (35-16), almost twice as many steals (15-8), and they controlled the glass with 49 rebounds. The Raptors’ bench showed up for the game scoring 40 points, almost half of their final team scoring total. Shooting guard Hank Roll led all bench players in scoring with 15 points, shooting 4-8 from the field and 3-6 from beyond the arc. Rowan College’s final score was only 7 points more than Montgomery College’s first half scoring total.
Although the stat-line tells a tale of command, Coach Byrd also had some comments regarding the turnover total.
“We finished the game with 20 turnovers…We need to learn how to maximize every possession, but 20 turnovers is just unacceptable.”
The Montgomery College Raptors are now 5-0 and are heading into the weekend tip off classic with games against Cape Fear Community College on November 16 and Mercyhurst NE on November 17.
