The Cecil College men's basketball team's comeback fell short on "sophomore day" when they suffered a 91-83 defeat from NJCAA Region XX DII rival, the Nighthawks for Northern Virginia Community College. The Seahawks fell to 17-11 overall and 5-5 against NJCAA Region XX DII opponents.
The Nighthawks started out Saturday's contest hot scoring 30 points in the opening ten minutes of action, compared to the Seahawks' nine points. NOVA's 21 point lead would be their largest margin of the contest before Cecil College would make a comeback attempt.
The Seahawk's chipped away at their defecit and found themsevles down six at the halftime break after back-to-back buckets from sophomore guard Cornell Corbin. Corbin was able to grab and offensive rebound with a put back and force a turnover and convert a breakaway dunk in the last minute of the half. The Seahawks' last possesion of the half included a dish from Cornell Corbin and made layup from Shylier Ringgold to put them down 43-37 with one half to play.
Cecil was able to cut the Nighthawks' lead to three after scoring the opening three points of the second half, but were never able to gain the lead. The Nighthawks' successfully shot 60.3% from the floor, an impressive 62.5% from the three-point line, and 84.6% from the free throw line compared to the Seahawks 40% shooting percentage and 20% shooting percentage from beyond the arc. NOVA nearly doubled the Seahawks' 26 rebounds on the day.
Cornell Corbin led the Seahawk's in scoring with a career-high 38 points, eight rebounds, three assists, and four steals. Corbin surpassed the 800-career point mark and now tallies 803 career points in his two years at Cecil College. Freshman guard Khalid Gates came off the bench scoring 19 points, including three buckets from beyond the arc. Freshman guard Hassan Corbin contributed another solid performance with 11 points, seven rebounds, and four steals in the Seahawks' defeat.
Cecil College men's basketball returns to action when they travel to Community College of Beaver County for their last region division and regular season contest of the season. Tip off is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. on Monaca, Pa.