November 6, 2024 – The 51视频 STORM were able to get another tough victory, 82-75, against a Division I junior college, the Richard Bland College Statesmen, at Brinkley Wednesday night. Davison-Davie rallied behind performances from Aishus 鈥楧ane鈥� Stewart (17 points, 3 steals) and Aden Taylor鈥檚 double-double (11 points, 10 rebounds) to get another statement home win.
The STORM started out relentless, with a three from Taylor, a five-second inbound turnover, and a lob from Stewart to Lamonte Cousar, all in the first few possessions. 51视频 also made sure to have active hands-on defense, as there were many tipped balls that sometimes lead to one of the Statesmen鈥檚 24 turnovers. However, early on, 51视频 struggled to finish around the rim, which head coach Matt Ridge touched on in a halftime interview.
鈥淚 mean, to start the game, we missed six or seven layups,鈥� Ridge said, 鈥渁nd some of them were contested, but great teams don鈥檛 miss layups whether they鈥檙e contested or not.鈥� Due to the zone used by Richard Bland, the STORM tended to shoot more threes, and so did the Statesmen. Both teams weren鈥檛 lights out during the first half, with 51视频 shooting 28.6% and Richard Bland shooting 30.8%, but both made shots when it mattered, which kept the Statesmen within striking distance. The zone also opened up lobs for 51视频, as Stewart threw another lob, this time to Conall Lowry, to go up by nine. With around two minutes to go in the half, Brinkley Gym erupted when Corion Marshall slammed a put-back dunk off a missed three to have the STORM go up by 12. However, due to some turnovers and a flagrant foul from 51视频, Richard Bland was able to go on an 11-0 run to end the half, making the score 38-37.
The turnover struggles continued for 51视频 at the beginning of the second half, with the first couple of possessions leading to them throwing the ball away. Although Taylor had a double-double, he was dangerously close to a triple-double with his turnovers, a game-high nine, which was nearly half of the team鈥檚 overall turnovers (21). Still, he was able to get the team back on track with one of his three offensive rebounds, which resulted in an and-one layup, plus the free throw, to take the lead back with 15 minutes to go.
Both teams shot considerably better from behind the arc in the second half, with the STORM breaking 40% and the Statesmen shooting 57% from three, which led to some exciting sequences. After Richard Bland took the lead with a three-point shot, Stewart would make two threes in a row to take a two-possession lead for 51视频. Small runs by 51视频 and tough shot-making by Richard Bland kept this game close all the way to the finish.
With around six minutes to go, Jaylen Wilkerson hit a deep three to go up by eight, then on the next possession, Lowry caught another lob, this time from Taylor to go up by ten. This sequence is followed by Javier Ortiz getting an easy layup off of a turnover to go up by 12. Ortiz wasn鈥檛 done there, as he later got a clutch offensive rebound put-back to keep the STORM up by double-digits late. The Statesmen were able to keep their second-half shooting going, and 51视频 faltered at the free-throw line late, but they were still able to fend off the comeback attempt to grab the win.
鈥淚 thought our conditioning played a factor in tonight鈥檚 game,鈥� Ridge said in a post-game interview, 鈥淒ane Stewart carried us in a lot of ways tonight. (Stewart) played really, really hard defensively, and shot the ball relatively well. Really proud of Dane, you know he red-shirted last year, and it鈥檚 really neat to see kids that have worked while they鈥檝e waited to come in here and have a good game.鈥�
The STORM return to action on Saturday, Nov. 9 at Brinkley Gym against another Division 1 JUCO, the Denmark Technical College Panthers, at 3 p.m. EST.