BY AARON PATTERSON
DANVILLE — As a Brooklyn, NY native, it took Lewis and Clark Community College freshman Gavin Scott a bit of time to adjust to the Midwest. Not only did he have to adjust to a different lifestyle, coach Deon Thomas stressed to him the importance of simplifying his game.
“He’s from Brooklyn and he came in with, like he says, that Brooklyn swag,” Thomas said. “I had to tell him, simplify your game. If you simplify your game and you do the simple things, you’ll do a lot better. You don’t need all the fancy ball handling and all of those other things. Simplify, make it effective, and he’ll do well.”
If Scott lost any of his swag after relocating to Illinois, he found it in LCCC’s 83-72 win over the Cecil College Seahawks on Wednesday.
Scott easily surpassed his season scoring average (6.7) in the first half when he put up 10 of his team-high 17 points. He also dished out three assists in an effort to help the Trailblazers overcome a 37-35 halftime deficit.
But the scoring outburst wasn’t too important to Scott. All he was concerned with was helping his team continue to battle through the national tournament with hopes of going home with a title.
“I was very hyped, so I expected a game like this,” Scott said. “I just want to get this ring. That’s all I want. I’m going to do whatever. I’m going to play my hardest just to get this ring.”
In order to remain on pace toward their title hopes, the Trailblazers were forced to slow the offensive production of Cecil’s Harold Washington. Washington scored 15 of the Seahawks 35 points in the first half, but managed only 7 in the second.
“He was definitely our main focus,” Thomas said. “He is the best scorer on their team and in the first half, we allowed him to be the best scorer on their team.
“We allowed Washington, who is an extremely good player especially off the dribble, to get to the basket and do the things that he wanted to do. That caused a problem for us in the first half. In the second half, we made some adjustments and kind of shut down that penetration.”
What it also allowed LCCC to do was go on a 17-2 run to extend its lead to 57-44 with 10 minutes remaining in the game.
The Trailblazers made it their goal at halftime to limit Washington’s, and Cecil coach Rashad Brooks realized that once his leading scorer was being shut down, the Seahawks chances of a comeback were slim.
“They ran a box-and-one which made Washington’s life a little bit hard on the offensive end,” Brooks said. “He was one of the leading scorers in the country, so once they didn’t allow him to catch the ball, that made our offense a little stagnant at times and they were able to get on a run. And that was ballgame.
“They stopped our most potent player on the offensive end. But they also did a good job rebounding the ball. We got outrebounded, and in the game of basketball, once you get outrebounded, it is very hard to get those second-chance points or get the stops that you need.”
LCCC outrebounded Cecil 45-28 with 30 of the boards coming off the defensive glass.
Anthony Jones (14 points) hit back-to-back 3-pointers during the Trailblazers run, both immediately following turnovers. LCCC never trailed after taking a 45-42 lead on the first of Jones’ long-range shots.
Justin Jones (13 points, 12 rebounds) and Cristian Henry (13 points, 14 rebounds) both had double-doubles for the Trailblazers, and Darius Lowery finished with 12 points and a game-high six assists.
Washington scored a game-high 22 points for Cecil while Gabriel McNeal (12 points) and Adam Johnson (20 points, 13 rebounds) were the only other two Seahawks to hit double-digit scoring.
LCCC advances to Friday’s 6 p.m. championship bracket semifinal to face Cincinnati State Technical and Community College while Cecil College will take on Brown Mackie today at 3 p.m.
