Men’s Basketball Takes Care of Business Against CCBC Catonsville

Chesapeake College's men's basketball returned to the hardwood after a long holiday weekend to take on The Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) Catonsville on Monday night, December 2^nd. The Skipjacks would outscore the Cardinals 85-53 to pick up their first conference win of the season. With the victory, the Skipjacks improve to 7-2 overall, and 1-1 in Maryland JUCO play. CCBC's Cardinals fall to 3-4 overall and 1-1 in conference play.

The Skipjacks initially got off to a slow start, finding themselves down 7-1 just two minutes into the half before turning things around to tie up the score at 13 apiece with over thirteen minutes left to play. Then came along the Craig Turner show. The freshman Turner, who came off the bench for Chesapeake, poured in 6 of the Skipjacks next 8 points, all of which came from beyond the arc to build the first cushion for his team. Minutes later, Turner hit another pair of three's to put his team up 28-21 and provide a spark for the offense. The Skipjacks would wind up closing out the half on a 20-4 run over the final 7:52 to head into halftime with a comfortable 48-25 lead. Chesapeake had three players in double digit scoring at the break while holding the Cardinals under 37% shooting from the floor.

Catonsville opened the second half by attacking the basket and forcing Chesapeake to foul early and often in an effort to get to the line. The Cardinals had some success, earning 17 shots from the charity stripe in the second half alone but were only able to convert on 8 of those attempts. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, Chesapeake had built an insurmountable lead and continued to put pressure on throughout the remainder of the game to again outscore their opponent 37-28 in the second half and secure the 85-53 victory at home. Turner and fellow freshman Joey Adams led the scoring for the Skipjacks with 21 points each while sophomore forward Amir Pettiford just nearly missed out on a double-double with 9 points and 12 rebounds.

The Skipjacks have managed to build some positive momentum with dominant wins in each of their past two games and will look to keep rolling as they finish out the week with two more conference games, both of which are at home. Up next for Chesapeake is a matchup against Anne Arundel Community College on Wednesday night, December 4^th. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. or immediately following the conclusion of the women's game just prior.