By Amy Brown/Sinclair Sports Information
Dayton, Ohio---The Sinclair men's basketball team (4-1) hosted Schoolcraft College (2-2) for the first time in head coach Jeff Price's tenure at Sinclair on Saturday.
Sinclair played its third home game of the week and survived a very tough rebounding team in Schoolcraft but had just enough to outlast the Ocelots 76-66.Sinclair jumped out to a 4-1 lead to start the game.
Trace Cureton hit back-to-back shots to put Sinclair up 18-13 with 11:59 to play in the first half. The first bucket came off a steal where Cureton took the ball coast to coast. On the very next possession Cureton drove into the paint and made the lay-up. It was a close first half but Sinclair went into halftime leading 44-37.
Marquez Carpenter-Mathis led the first half with 13 pointsSchoolcraft jumped out to a 6-0 run to start the second half. This run helped them cut to within one point of Sinclair. The rest of the second half was quite the physical defensive battle.
Marquez Carpenter-Mathis was hot in the second half with 11 points to help stave off the hard rebounding Ocelots. Scoring leaders for Sinclair included Marquez Carpenter-Mathis (6-6/FR – Western Hills H.S., Cincinnati, OH) with a game high 24 points, five rebounds, three assists, and three steals.
Ramar Hairston (6-1/FR – Northwest H.S., Cincinnati, OH) had 11 points with CJ Reed (6-7/FR – Colerain H.S., Cincinnati, OH) collected 12 points, 6 rebounds and 2 big block shots. Trace Cureton (6-4/SO – Cathedral H.S., Indianapolis, IN) added 12 points and a team high 9 rebounds.
Sinclair will be at home again on Thursday, November 21 when they host Wittenberg University JV team at 7:30 PM in building 8 at Sinclair Community College. The women will play at 5:30 PM.