HCC Defeats Southern Maryland on Cancer-Awareness Night

Sporting pink bands and shoe laces to promote cancer awareness, Howard Community College scored two basketball wins against the College of Southern Maryland Wednesday night.

The men's team beat host CSM, 75-64, and the women defeated the hosts, 67-54.

The Lady Dragons were led by Lakeisha Taylors 15 points.  Dalvon Pinkney added 14 and Paris Preston added a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Winter Dragon Basketball Fest is held in support of the Jim Valvano Foundation and the Kay Yow Foundation.

All Dragons wore the pink accessories to honor those affected by cancer.

HCC collected donations for the effort to find a cure for cancer.

On the court, once again team defense and rebounding were the difference in the men's game. 

"Again, we did a solid job on defense and played great team defense for the most part," Head Coach Mike Smelkinson said. "We had a few let downs, but we were able to hold CSM to their lowest scoring game so far this season."

Dolapo Olugbile (Reservoir High School) led all scorers with 22 points. 

"Dolapo stepped up and played a lot of minutes and we were able to use him at a couple of different positions," Smelkinson said. "He brought a lot of energy off of the bench and was a spark for us tonight."

Leo Rogers (Hammond) stepped up big at a critical time of the game.  He scored 21 points, but he scored 5 straight points at a time when CSM made a big run to take the lead late in the second half. 

The Dragons had built a 9-point lead, but CSM chipped away and took the lead 59-58 on a 3-pointer. 

Rogers responded by hitting a 3-pointer and then a tough 2-point shot, and HCC never trailed again.

Devin Payton (Laurel) gave HCC a nice lift off of the bench with tough rebounds and 6 points.

HCC went on a 17-6 run to secure the win and pull to 9-10 for the year.

Howard’s defense frustrated CSM, being held to a season low of 64 points.

Southern Maryland is used to putting up big numbers. The team has scored 137, 127 and 121 points in other games this year. 

CSM likes to run an up tempo game to put up a lot of shots. 

Smelkinson was successful at getting his team to slow down and play under control. 

HCC’s offense got good opportunities when it ran its half-court offense.

Controlling the tempo by being deliberate on the offensive side and strong team defense propelled the Dragons to victory.

HCC will host Harford Community College at 5 p.m. Saturday.