Skippers Hand SeaWolves First Blemish

SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine— The Southern Maine Community College (SMCC) men's basketball team suffered its first loss of the season in a 68-62 thriller to the Skippers from St. Clair County Community College (SC4) on Sunday, Nov. 12.

SMCC limited the team from Port Huron, Mich. to just three points in a near 10 minutes of action and took a 26-23 lead into the half.

There was one lead change in the game and that was with 1:15 remaining in regulation when Quintin Johnson converted a layup to give his Skippers a 64-62 advantage. Johnson found his way to the rim again for another layup, part of his 19 second-half points, before the SeaWolves went 0-4 from the floor. SC4 would sink two free throws to put the game out of reach and walk away with a win.

SC4's Johnson led all scorers in the game with 23 points in 31 minutes of action. Kodi Badger pulled down 12 rebounds, seven on the offensive end for the Skippers.

Junior Ryan Cloutier (Pelham, N.H.) led the SeaWolves with 16 points and an acrobatic put-back dunk. Junior co-captain Dylan Silvestri (Pelham, N.H.) finished with his second double-double of the year, 10 points and 10 rebounds. First-year Willie Brown (Willimantic, Conn.) added another notable performance with 13 points, 3-6 from three-point range.

In a post-game interview, Head Coach Matt Richards stated, "Although a loss, this game showed us valuable lessons that we plan to correct as we move forward in conference play. The Skippers were deep off the bench with a variety of skill sets—kudos to them for playing to the final whistle."

View the photo gallery of the game HERE.

SMCC stands 5-1 overall and remains 1-0 in conference action. The Skippers return home grabbing two wins on their east coast road trip, defeating Holyoke Community College as well.

The SeaWolves begin a six-game Yankee Small College Conference (YSCC) stretch with Unity College on Wednesday, Nov. 15. SMCC enters play sporting a 10-game win streak against the Rams spanning the previous five seasons. Tip-off in Unity is scheduled for 8 p.m.

For the latest on SMCC's athletic programs, log onto GoSMCCSeawolves.com or follow Southern Maine Community College Athletics on Twitter @SMCCseawolves and on Facebook SMCC Seawolves.