PHCC Falls to Guilford Tech

Thursday, January 21, 2010
By CHASE YOUNG - Bulletin Sports Writer

Guilford Technical Community College forced 32 turnovers on the way to an 86-73 win over Patrick Henry Community College on Wednesday night at Stone Hall. “I don’t think we took care of the basketball. We didn’t shoot the ball well. We didn’t execute offensively, and our defense was in spots, and our sense of urgency wasn’t there,” said Patriots coach Kenny Wade. “That’s how we lost this basketball game.”

The Patriots started strong, tying with the Titans on five occasions before the sixth (15-15) came on a put back from Hunter Cullen, but GTCC’s high-pressure defense soon began to take its toll. Following the put back, the Titans (15-3 overall, 7-1 Region X) went on an 11-1 run for a 26-16 lead. Though the Patriots did force their way back to within seven (38-31) at the half, they were never able to tie or take the lead again.

“They get out. They run. They really pushed the ball, so obviously we had to get back on defense. That was the number one thing we told our team, ’cause they’re gonna get out,” said Titans’ coach Phil Gaffney. “They really out-played us up there, so we said, ‘Can’t let Goforth get off and gotta make sure you get back on defense.’ Those, I think, were the two big things that we tried to do tonight,” he added. Goforth had a team-high 14 points for the Patriots.

In the first matchup of these two teams, GTCC held for a 63-61 win over the Patriots. The win kept the Titans undefeated and helped them to a No. 10 spot in the National Junior College Athletic Association’s Division II poll.

After allowing GTCC to pull away at the start of the second half, Ross Williams went 2-for-2 from the line. Nick Goforth followed with back-to-back 3s — the team’s only two of the game — to pull within four points of the lead (43-39), but PHCC never got any closer the rest of the way, as turnovers and cold shooting by the Patriots took its toll. “You gotta do some attacking and getting to the basket,” said Wade. “That’s what killed us tonight. Everybody wanted to shoot 3s. We gotta look to get something going into the basket.

“It was pretty much the same team. They just came out and they wanted it more than we did tonight and that’s why they won the game,” he added.  The Titans’ Travis DeShazior had a game-high 16 points. T.J. Holman added 15, and Charlon Kloof added 10. PHCC’s Anthony Jones recorded 13 points, and Taneiko Robinson helped with 12.

Quicker Than Expected
In Year One, the Lady Patriots are already an NJCAA Force

Sunday, January 17, 2010
By JOHNNY BUCK - Bulletin Sports Editor

When officials at Patrick Henry Community College decided to bring back the women’s basketball program following two years of dormancy, they were hoping to be competitive. Instead, they’ve got a group that’s undefeated, ranked No. 9 in the country and openly talking about national title aspirations.

“They’re phenomenal. We expected things to work, but we didn’t know it would be at this high of a level so fast,” said PHCC Athletic Director Chris Parker. “I mean, being that we didn’t have a team for a couple years, (a .500 record) would have been a success in our minds, as far as getting a women’s sports team going.” To read the rest of the story, CLICK HERE

Barbour Named NJCAA Player of the Week

Colorado Springs, Colo. (Jan. 13, 2010) - Haley Holmstead of Salt Lake Community College (Utah) earns the NJCAA Division I Women's Basketball Player of the Week. Andrea Barbour of the Patrick Henry Community College (Va.) earns the Division II honors and Division III honors go to Victoria DeTata of Brookdale Community College (N.J.). To read the complete release from the NJCAA, please CLICK HERE

Patriots Upset #10 Louisburg

Wednesday, January 13, 2010
By JOHNNY BUCK - Bulletin Sports Editor

Point guard Ross Williams rebounded Josh McGill’s missed 3-pointer and made the offensive putback with 2.1 seconds remaining to lead Patrick Henry Community College’s men’s basketball team to a 91-89 upset of the nation’s 10th-ranked junior college squad, the Louisburg Hurricanes.

Williams, who led all scorers with 21 points on the night, got the uncontested rebound mere feet from the hoop after McGill’s shot bounced high off the rim, hit the top edge of the backboard and dropped straight down. Louisburg’s players stood still once the ball hit the top of the backboard, erroneously thinking it would be ruled out of bounds.

“We shouldn’t freeze; we should make a play in that situation,” said Hurricanes head coach John Meeks, who felt game officials made the correct call in allowing Williams’ basket “We should get the rebound regardless of whether the whistle blows or not, and we made an assumption that the whistle was gonna blow, and it didn’t, and they laid the ball in and scored.”

Louisburg had one last chance for the victory, but Marese Phelps’ heave from beyond half-court glanced off the left side of the rim as the final horn sounded. “The biggest thing I guess that helped us pull this game out is that these kids kept their composure, played hard and didn’t give up,” said PHCC head coach Kenny Wade. “It’s a huge win.”

Josh McGill added 19 for PHCC, while Nick Goforth and Taneiko Robinson scored 14 points each. The bucket capped an impressive game for Williams, typically the team’s combo guard, who started at the point in place of injured Darius Echols.

Not only did the 6-foot-3 Bealton native lead the way offensively, he helped break the ’Canes press down the stretch, causing Meeks to compare him to Hall of Fame NFL quarterback Troy Aikman for his ability to survey the floor.

PHCC led 45-42 at halftime. The game’s pace quickened in the second stanza, but the Patriots (9-4 overall, 3-1 Region X) never lost the lead despite allowing Louisburg (13-3, 3-1 Region X) to tie the score twice. Marcellous Perez led the ’Canes with 19 points, while Phelps had 16, Jordan Davidson 15 and Fletcher Wynn 12.

Patriots Romp Past Rockingham C.C.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
By CHASE YOUNG - Bulletin Sports Writer

Patrick Henry Community College’s men’s basketball team shot out to an early lead and never let up for a 99-68 rout of Rockingham Community College on Saturday at Stone Hall. “Our defensive intensity was there, and then once we got the lead we started to play a little sloppy, which I didn’t like too swell, but overall it was a good win for us. Any win is good after a long layoff like we had,” said Patriots skipper Kenny Wade.

PHCC (8-4 overall, 2-1 Region X) started the night on an 11-2 run capped by a right-wing 3-pointer from Nick Goforth, and as their full-court defensive pressure remained steady, so too did the turnovers by RCC. “What happened is about what I thought was going to happen, but we’re just trying to weather the storm,” said RCC coach Dean Myrick. “We should have our team back in hopefully a week. We’re just trying to get to that point and not get hurt and so on and so forth.” After starting the season with an 18-person roster, Rockingham brought just six players to the game at PHCC.

Without any true guards, RCC struggled to bring the ball up the court against the Patriots’ pressure and recorded 18 total turnovers in the first half. “We wanted to keep the pressure up on them the whole time,” said PHCC’s Ross Williams. “Coach (Wade) said we’re gonna run ’em, run ’em, run ’em on defense and offense, so we just kept the pressure up the whole time, and they turned the ball over.”

Williams led the Patriots with 24 points, six of which came from 3-point land, and added 13 assists and 10 steals as well. Goforth added 12 points, all of which came from beyond the arc. RCC (9-7, 3-2) attempted to shorten a 20-point gap (37-17) late in the first half as Torrel Priest hit the Eagles’ last five shots, all of which came from behind the arc, but the Patriots maintained their edge and entered the break leading 51-31.

“They didn’t quit, and that was a positive,” said Myrick of his team. “That was good. I thought at a point it was going to be worse than it was. They fought, and that’s all you can ask for.” Priest recorded a game-high 31 points for the Eagles and was aided by Lee Bailey’s 18 and Lawrence Trison’s 12.

The Patriots continued to build on their lead in the second half with a 21-9 run over the first five minutes that had them up 73-40. As PHCC continued to press, the Eagles continued to turn the ball over and never threatened down the stretch. While Wade said he saw “bright spots” in the Patriots’ ability to attack the basket and move the ball offensively, he wasn’t fully pleased with his team’s play.

“I think our offensive execution really needs some work, because we weren’t crisp offensively,” said Wade. “I think we can get a lot better than we are offensively, as far as if we get crisp and stay in our sets and do the things that we’re supposed to do out of our offense.” The Patriots play next at 7 p.m. Tuesday when they host Louisburg Junior College.

Patrick Henry Community College leads Virginia charge in providing sanctioned sports
(Feature Story in Staunton's News Leader)
By Chris Lassiter • Sports Writer • November 25, 2009

Enrollment, exposure and excitement.

When the decision-makers at Patrick Henry Community College added an official National Junior College Athletic Association-sanctioned program — becoming the first Virginia Community College System school to do so — in 2006, it was with the understanding that the sports themselves wouldn't make money directly.

But the administration thought it could contribute to the two-year college's mission in other ways. The school saw it as a way to increase the school's visibility, attract new students, and provide students with unique athletic opportunities rarely found in the commonwealth.

And, according to PHCC athletic director Chris Parker, it hasn't taken the school much time to reap the fruits of its decision. "Without a doubt it was the right decision," said Parker, who has seen several of his teams achieve national rankings. "Being successful has helped us get national media coverage, and we've had lots of support and coverage from the local community. And our enrollment is up five percent."

Attracting student-athletes

Adding athletics has broadened PHCC's appeal, and drew some former area standouts to the school. Hunter Cullen, a former hoops star at Wilson Memorial High School, is a freshman on the Patriots' men's squad. Patrick Henry's baseball squad also has two local members: Waynesboro High School graduate Terrell Thompson and Jeremy Fitzgerald from Stuarts Draft High School.

The two-year school already has had some amazing success stories in its brief history. Former Charlottesville High School standout Andrea Barbour — who won ACC freshman of the year honors at Virginia Tech — is resurrecting her basketball career at Patrick Henry. Barbour and Patriots teammate Sonia Johnson have committed to play for Virginia Commonwealth University next season.

A home at Blue Ridge?

Closer to home, athletics at Blue Ridge Community College are undergoing a facelift of a completely different kind. The two-year community college in Weyers Cave is in the designing stage for a planned athletic facility which will include an indoor basketball court and a weight room. The project, which has an estimated completion date of 2012, is too far off to approximate the cost, Blue Ridge public relations coordinator Bridget Baylor said.

As far as adding sanctioned junior college athletic teams is concerned, Baylor said there's never been any formal discussions. "We've never had the facilities," Baylor said.

There are additional reasons, according to Baylor, why conversations have never taken place. The school increased enrollment by 13 percent in the fall, so exposure hasn't been an issue. Also, there's never been a public outcry for NJCAA-sanctioned sports at the school. "It just hasn't been on our radar," Baylor said.

Not starting from scratch

Patrick Henry's transition from club sports to sanctioned sports was made easier by the fact the school already had facilities in place. The annual fees to the NJCAA are about $2,000 a year, and Parker said there's an additional fee of around $500 per sport to the region.

Parker said the average annual athletic budget for a Region X team — Region X governs junior college athletics in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina — is about $120,000 a year. That figure includes coaching stipends, travel expenses and meal money.

VCCS schools following PHCC

Southwestern Virginia Community College in Richlands has already added a men's basketball program, while Rappahannock Community College has added a baseball team.

Parker said Tidewater Community College, Northern Virginia Community College and Danville Community College have all made inquiries. Although nothing is pending at BRCC, Baylor did not close the door on talks of sanctioned sports in the school's s not-so-immediate future.

"We would have to have student interest in competing in more than intramurals," Baylor said. "If we had more VCCS schools on board by then, maybe it would be something we would consider more seriously."

PHCC's Barbour Named All-American

PHCC's Andrea Barbour has been named to the Women's Basketball Division II Pre-Season All-American First Team. Barbour is a transfer from Virginia Tech where she was named to the ACC All-Freshman team two seasons ago. Barbour is the only player from Region X named to the Pre-Season All-American First team. Barbour and the Women's Basketball team will begin their first season in NJCAA play on Sunday with a road contest at Louisburg J.C.
 

President Obama visits PHCC Motorsports on Campaign Trail!