College basketball: Wranglers push around tough Yavapai squad

The Yavapai College men’s basketball team had pushed Midland College to the limit and forced Western Texas into overtime in its first two games of the Odessa College Tournament.

Saturday evening against the hosts, when the Roughriders took a quick lead to start the game, it looked like another long night for a Western Junior College Athletic Conference team.

The Wranglers, however, were not in the mood to let Yavapai hang around.

Quickly taking the lead with just under 18 minutes to play in the first half, Odessa College slowly and methodically pulled away and finished with a 77-55 victory to cap the three-day tournament.

Josh Brown led the Wranglers (4-0) with a game-high 16 points, with Greg Edwards adding 13 and Melvin Baker 11 in the victory.

“If there was one thing that I would be disappointed in is that when we are getting the leads, we are relaxing,” Odessa College coach Dennis Helms said. “Other than that, I was very happy with the way we played tonight.”

Yavapai (0-3) was led by point guards Ali Sabra’s 16 ponts, with Jaron Kirk and Colin Borchaert each finishing with 10 in the loss.

Odessa College next will travel to Lubbockon  Tuesday to face the Lubbock Christian JV, before heading to Pima, Ariz., to play in the Pima Tournament next weekend.

Yavapai took it’s only lead of the game in the opening minute of the first half when Daniel Duran rebounded a missed shot and went right back up for the basket.

Then, after Brown hit 1-of-2 free throws to cut the Roughriders’ lead in half, he came back with a jumper just outside the lane for a 3-2 Odessa College lead and the Wranglers never looked back.

Yavapai didn’t make it easy for Odessa College, though, battling them with full-court pressure the entire night and making the Wranglers work hard to get the ball inside.

Finally, leading 16-13, the Wranglers went on a 23-10 run over the final eight minutes of the first half to break the game open.

“I really like the attitude of this team,” Helms said. “They are athletic and doing everything we ask.

“To this point, they’ve been a lot of fun to coach.”

>> Odessa College 77, Yavapai College 55

YAVAPAI (0-3)

Bryan Petty 0 2-4 2, Breen weeks 1 0-1 3, Cody Rafters1 0-1 3, Ali Sabra 4 6-7 16, Jaron Kirk 3 3-4 10, Dionte Goodlett 0 0-0 0, Daniel Duran 4 1-2 9, Colin Borchert 4 2-3 10, Ron Barnes 2 1-2 . Totals: 18 15-23 55.

ODESSA COLLEGE (4-0)

Anthony Hubbard 3 0-0 6, Melvin Baker 3 4-4 11, Scottie Farrington 4 0-0 8, Thomas Schoeps 0 0-0 0, Desmond Woodberry 4 0-0 8, Greg Edwards 5 1-3 13, Josh Brown 6 4-6 16, Kevin Schaffartzik 2 2-2 8, Darrick Brown 2 1-1 5, Rashad Savage 0 0-0 0, Kadeem Coleby 1 0-0 2. Totals: 30 12-16 77.

Halftime: Odessa College 39, Yavapai College 23. Three-point goals: Yavapai 4-14 (Breen Weeks 1-2, Ali Sabra 2-8, Jaron Kirk 1-2,Colin Borchert 0-2, Ron Barnes 1-2), Odessa College 5-21 (Melvin Baker 1-4, Thomas Schoeps 0-2, Greg Edwards 2-4, Josh Brown 0-3, Kevin Schaffartzik 2-6, Darrick Brown 0-2). Total fouls: Yavapai 16, Odessa College 22. Fouled Out: None. Rebounds: Yavapai 30 (Daniel Duran 8), Odessa College 54 (Melvin Baker 9). Assists: Yavapai 8 (Ali Sabra 4), Odessa College 10 (Thomas Schoeps 4).