DANVILLE — Normally, the Mary Miller Center is enemy grounds for the Parkland College Cobras.
But, this week, Parkland has the local rooting interest in the NJCAA Division II National Tournament as the representatives from the Central District and the winners of the Region 24 Tournament.
On Tuesday night, the Cobras overcame a completely unique scenario to beat the St. Clair County Community College Skippers 64-60 in a second-round contest.
“This is the homecourt for our rival,” Parkland coach John Bowler said. “Danville does a great job hosting the tournament, it’s awesome to be here and I appreciate all the do. But, we are not normally as welcomed in this gym. It’s not a bad thing. We know who we are and we know it’s their gym.
“We were on the wrong bench and we were in a different locker room. We were all over the place tonight, but we got it figure out.”
The same could be said about the game on the court.
Parkland (29-4) overcame some very difficult shooting percentages with a tremendous defensive effort. The Cobras made just 38.7 percent of their shots from the field (24-of-62), including just 6-of-28 from 3-point range but the same could be said for the Skippers (25-7), who shot an identical 38.7 percent from the field (24-of-62) and they were just 4-of-22 behind the arc.
“They normally score 86 points a game, so if we could guard, we felt like we could get there,” said Bowler, whose team allows just 67.2 points per game — ninth best in NJCAA Division II. “We knew scoring waves would come at us because their offense prowess was really good. We withstood the waves at times and we were able to push back.
“We were able to grind it out, which is what we have been talking about all year.”
The Cobras needed two free throws from sophomore Grant Coleman with 5 seconds remain to secure the victory. Coleman, who was just 2-of-11 from the field and 1-of-7 behind the arc, got to the line after grabbing a defensive rebound from a missed shot by St. Clair County forward La’Tavious Vaughter.
“Hopefully, he shook it over and hopefully, he will get rolling again,” Bowler said. “Our biggest thing in our program is confidence and building it up. Guys make a mistake and we get to our next play, our next thing. We have to trust our older guys to make plays down the stretch.
“When you get to this point, there are no participation teams here.”
Sophomore Jabryn Anderson scored a game-high 23 points for Parkland to go along with a season-high 11 rebounds. It was Anderson’s first double-double of the season. Joining Anderson in double figures were freshman JaMonte Williams with 12 points off the Cobras bench and sophomore Brylan Phillips finished with 11.
For St. Clair County, sophomore Isaiah Jones had a team-high 19 and Vaughter contributed 10 in the losing effort. Sophomore Zaveon Little came off the bench for the Skippers to pull down a team-high 11 rebounds to go along with 7 points.
Parkland advances to play second-seeded South Suburban College in the quarterfinals Thursday night, while St. Clair County will now play Florida State College at Jacksonville in the consolation bracket on Thursday.
Parkland College 64, St. Clair County Community College 60
St. Clair (60) — Tyler Hamilton 2-9 2-3 6, Daquan Coleman 3-6 0-0 7, Isaiah Jones 8-18 2-2 19, La’Tavius Vaughter 5-9 0-0 10, Omari Byrd 1-1 0-2 2, Zahki Fallen 2-7 4-4 9, Cameron Baker 0-2 0-0 0, Zaveon Little 3-10 0-0 7, Jayvon Toney 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 24-62 8-11 60.
Parkland (64) — Jabryn Anderson 8-13 6-7 23, Brylan Phillips 5-10 0-0 11, Ken Sallee 0-3 0-0 0, Tye Banks 0-4 0-0 0, Grant Coleman 2-11 4-4 9, Drew Lewis Jr. 3-9 0-0 7, JaMonte Williams 5-11 0-0 12, Fabio Da Rocha 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 24-62 10-11 64.
St. Clair `28 `32 `— `60
Parkland `35 `29 `— `64
3-pointers — St. Clair 4-22 (Coleman 1-3, Jones 1-3, Fallen 1-4, Little 1-7, Hamilton 0-4, Vaughter 0-1). Parkland 6-28 (Williams 2-3, Anderson 1-3, Phillips 1-5, Coleman 1-7, Lewis 1-6, Sallee 0-2, Banks 0-2). Rebounds — St. Clair 40 (Little 11). Parkland 39 (Anderson 11). Assists — St. Clair 5 (Fallen 3). Parkland 8 (Phillips 4). Turnovers — St. Clair 12, Parkland 6. Total fouls — St. Clair 11, Parkland 12. Fouled out — none.
Records — St. Clair County Community College 25-7 overall. Parkland College 29-4 overall.