Brant Fowler/DIGEST
Graduate Senior Center Malek Abdelgowad hangs in the air to shoot a midrange jumper in the first half against Ecclesia College on Monday, November 10 in the F.G. Clark Activity Center.
The Southern University Men’s Basketball team played their home opener on Monday night as they took on the Ecclesia College Royals. The Jaguars came into this game sporting an 0-2 record, with their losses coming at the hands of Arkansas and Marquette. They were looking to right their losing skid against Ecclesia, who was also winless coming into this matchup.
The tipoff gets underway, and Southern gets off to a blazing fast start. They jump out to a 23 to 5 lead out the gate, led by the guard tandem of Senior guard Michael Jacobs and Damariee Jones. They got off to hot starts that helped propel the Jaguars out to an early lead. The team continued this dominance going into the half with a 55-19 lead over their much inferior opponent.
The bench was also a great contribution in this game, led by sharpshooter Fazl Oshodi. He showed off his range by going 6 for 11 from the field as well as knocking down a pair of threes. The Jaguars also got great play off the bench from Aston Mcgee, who finished with 11 points and went 3 of 4 from the field. The bench came up big as a whole as they outscored the Ecclesia College bench 48 to 8.
Southern also managed to dominate the boards where they led that disparity from 42 to 23. Acting head coach Jethro Hillman talked about how he felt that his team performed in this tune-up game. “I think some guys off the bench really stepped up and brought energy. I thought that we brought good defensive intensity in the first half with different types of pressure coverages.” He emphasized that he thought his guys played a great first half with an incredible amount of energy. He felt, however, that his team let up a little bit too much on the intensity in 2nd half. He also mentioned that he would address his team that the game is a 40-minute contest and not to let up on an opponent of any caliber.
“I think that we really need to focus on that (intensity). Our guys let them shoot right at 50% from the field in the 2nd half. That’s definitely something that we need to work on going forward.” The final score ended up being 115-51 in favor of the Jags. They play next on Saturday, November 15th, at 6:30 pm against Champion Christian College.