The Blinn College men’s basketball team capped the fourth annual Blue Bell Basketball Classic with an impressive 101-82 victory over Dallas College Cedar Valley on Saturday at the Kruse Center in Brenham, Texas.
Blinn (3-2) hosted the two-day, four-team event and swept both of their matchups.
After picking up a 54-point victory over University of Arkansas Cossatot on Friday, the Bucs faced a tougher hill to climb in the form of Cedar Valley, and climb it they did.
“I thought our guys did well to weather some adversity in the first half against a good basketball team,” Blinn head coach Scott Schumacher said. “This was a growing game for us, one where we had to understand quickly that you have to come ready to play every single game. We played well and jumped out to a nice lead before Cedar Valley fought its way back into it, but our guys hung on and got the win and that’s the main objective.”
The two teams exchanged blows for a majority of the first half, with the Suns relying heavily on 3-pointers (five conversions) to grab a 25-22 lead with 10 minutes remaining before halftime.
It took a bit of physicality from the Bucs to ignite a game-changing run, starting with freshman forward putback off the glass amidst three Cedar Valley defenders.
Freshman guard Dashawn Ceaser followed Ndancky’s lead, drawing contact and a foul as he attempted to drive through a pair of Suns. Ceaser sank both shots from the charity stripe to put Blinn on top for good and returned to the line moments later after drawing another foul on a layup attempt. Two more makes from Ceaser made it 28-25, and sophomore guard Jaden Andrew moved brilliantly around a defender to bury a layup for a five-point edge with 8 minutes to go in the half.
“We stayed together and we stayed tough – physically and mentally,” Ndancky said. “We weren’t afraid to get into the post and bump around a little bit and fight for buckets.”
Blinn out-scored Cedar Valley 23-16 heading into the break, capped by a see-it-to-believe-it behind-the-back pass underneath the basket from Ceaser to sophomore forward London Maiden. Maiden laid in an easy bucket to make it 53-41.
An 18-6 half-opening move pushed the Bucs’ advantage to 71-49, but the Suns fought back from the free throw line.
After zero makes at the line in the first half, Cedar Valley converted 15 charity buckets after the intermission. That development helped the Suns cut Blinn’s 22-point lead down to 11 at the 9:21 mark.
“It’s basketball; guys are going to make shots and free throws … it’s going to happen,” Schumacher said. “We were jumping around a little too much on defense and needed to do a better job of guarding at times, but we corrected it and got better as the game went on.”
The Bucs never allowed their lead to shrink to single digits as a layup from Andrew followed by sophomore forward Anthony Isaac’s putback and a hook shot from Maiden made it an 83-66 ballgame.
“We have a new group of guys this year, and me and the sophomores have been preaching to those guys about how important ball movement and getting open is for our offense,” Isaac said. “We want everybody to get a touch on the basketball and everybody to get an open look until we find the right moment to go and score.”
Isaac had a big game for the Bucs as he finished with a 20-point, 16-rebound double-double while adding five assists. Ceaser knocked down five 3s and finished with 19 points. Maiden had 15 points, sophomore guard Reese Miller had 10, and Ndancky and freshman guard Hosea Steele tallied nine and eight, respectively.
Blinn’s season continues with a road trip to the Wrangler Shootout hosted by 14th-ranked Odessa College. The Bucs open the three-day event with a matchup against New Mexico Military Institute at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 21, in Odessa, Texas.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 49 national championships since 1987.
