Ahmad Garnett
Nov 10, 2023
he Spartan Men’s basketball team won their second game of the season 90-56 against the Apprentice School Division II team from Newport News, Virginia. Transfer Junior Guard Jaylani Darden led the way for the Spartans with 12 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 assists.
The Spartans started off the game with two back-to-back threes from transfer Grad Student Guard Allen Betrand, and Transfer Junior Guard Jamarii Thomas making the score 6-0, but after multiple turnovers, the Apprentice school fought back into the game making the score 10-10 with 13:51 left in the half.
“We expect them to come out with tough defense,” Head Coach Robert Jones said in pregame. “These are grown men they are not gonna come out and play with 18 and 19 year olds”. After the game was tied the Spartans came out with a complete new 5 on the floor. “There is no set lineup right now,” Jones said. “I’m grabbing guys off the bench and telling them to play. You will definitely see some 5 man swaps this game, not because anybody did anything wrong, just because we want to see what everyone has”.
After the Spartans settled in they began a 26-4 run pushing the score to 36-14. This run included multiple 3-pointers and a great stretch of possessions from Freshman Chris Fields Jr on both ends of the court. The Builders pieced together some nice possessions but ultimately could not fight off the Spartan’s run ending the first half with a score of 46-26. The Spartans ended the half with 9 fast break buckets.
The Spartans kicked off the half with a 7-2 run, with multiple players contributing to the efforts. The Spartans did well defensively closing out on shooters at the beginning of the second half forcing the Builders to shoot 2-11 in the first 7 minutes of the half. Making the score 59-34 with 12:59 left in the second half.
Graduate Student Guard Christian Ings begins to come alive in the second half knocking down 3 free throws, a nice layup, and a 3-pointer. This a positive sign to see for the Spartans as Ings is coming off an ACL injury last season
As Darryl Anderson hyped up his fellow teammates off the bench, the Spartans stretched their lead even further with a 6-0 run led by Jaylani Darden with two steals and two dunks in less than 1 minute, making the score 83-45 with 4:23 left in the second half.
After trading buckets back and forth the Spartans closed out the game, with the score 90-56. The Spartans will play Hampton for the Battle of the Bay on Monday, November 13, 2023 at 7:00pm. “Well Hampton won’t be able to see a lot of from our film considering we played two Division II schools” Coach Jones said. “Also we won’t be able to see a lot from their film because they haven’t played any competition either so Battle of the Bay will be a great environment for the fans and our first real test against a Division I school”.