Southwestern Michigan tops Andrew University 65-51

Published 11:04 am Friday, November 17, 2023

By Scott Novak

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DOWAGIAC — The Southwestern Michigan College men’s basketball team got off to a quick start and then held off a late Andrews University challenge to defeat the Cardinals 65-51 at the 1st Source Bank Fieldhouse Thursday night.

The Roadrunners improved to 3-2 with the non-conference win over Andrews.

Southwestern Michigan College got off to a quick start and built a 34-21 halftime lead. But the Roadrunners went away from the style of play that got them a comfortable lead according to Coach Rodell Davis.

“I think the one thing about us as a team is that we haven’t learned how to win yet,” he said. “We have been in some stressful situations, and we haven’t always done what we needed to. The thing that kind of disturb me about today is we just didn’t execute when we got up. The things that we did to get up, we didn’t execute late. Everybody started going one-on-one and trying to get theirs because we thought it was going to be a blowout.”

Davis gave credit to Andrews University, which he knew was going to give the Roadrunners everything that they had.

“They came in and gave us everything we could handle,” he said.

Last season, Davis said his team lacked a presence inside at both ends of the court. So, he went out and recruited several “bigs” to help correct that problem. Prince Adams (6-6) and Aries Hull (6-8) played key roles in Thursday night’s victory.

Adams (Evanston, Illinois) had a team-high 16 points to go along with 10 rebounds, while Hull (Chicago) had 10 points and five rebounds.

“The thing I will say about Aries and Prince is that they are both versatile,” Davis said. “They can play inside and outside, which makes a world of difference for us. Their [Andrews] big guy couldn’t, or wouldn’t come out and guard AJ. People were surprised to see him shoot that 15-footer. But he can stretch it out to shoot the three and he can shoot that. Those guys also really do a good job of cleaning up on the glass for us. Last year we didn’t do that. We gave up second, third and fourth shots, and it cost us some days.”

While the big guys helped build SMC’s lead, it was Rodell Davis Jr. who came to the rescue when the Cardinals made their run late in the contest.

Davis Jr. (Glenview, Illinois) made three consecutive shots that help keep the lead in double digits. He finished with 15 points.

The Roadrunners will host Olive-Harvey Saturday afternoon with tipoff set for approximately 3 p.m.

At halftime of the game, Southwestern Michigan College will honor its 1973 National Cross Country Championship team, which is celebrating 50 years.

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