Men's Basketball Falls Short Against Thaddeus Stevens

ARNOLD, MD – A late surge by the Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology sank the Anne Arundel Community College men's basketball team in their season opener Saturday. Despite being tied at the half, the Riverhawks fell to the Bulldogs, 83-74.

Jamar Young led AACC in scoring with 20 points in his collegiate debut, while Aaron McGriff added 15 and Michael Sullivan chipped in with 10 in his first collegiate game. Joseph Chase paced the defense with 11 rebounds (10 defensive) to go with eight points. In his college debut, Michael Cantrell filled his stats line with six points, six rebounds, four steals and a pair of blocks.

The Bulldogs opened the game on an 11-2 run, extending their lead to 10 before the midway point of the opening half. But AACC stormed back as Sullivan capped a 10-0 run over the next 2:19 to tie it at 16-16 and later put the Riverhawks ahead with a three-pointer with less than 10 minutes left in the stanza.

AACC extended its lead to as many as six, but Thaddeus Stevens outscored the Riverhawks, 14-6 over the final five minutes of the half to send the teams into the locker rooms knotted at 40-40.

The two teams battled it out in the early goings of the second half with four more ties before the Bulldogs pulled ahead for good, but not without a late threat from the Riverhawks, who, down 10 points, pulled together after a timeout with 2:10 left to get within two points with just over a minute left. A Bulldogs three-pointed stopped the run and Thaddeus Stevens pulled away for the 83-74 final.

The Riverhawks (0-1) relied on their transition game, scoring 14 fast break points in the game. The AACC bench poured in 27 points while holding Thaddeus Stevens's reserves to just 14.

AACC is back in action Friday and Saturday at the Westmoreland Tip Off Tournament where they will face the host Wolfpack and Penn Highlands.