Men's Basketball Falls at NOVA

ANNANDALE, VA – The Anne Arundel Comnunity College men's basketball team closed out the regular season with an 82-74 loss at Northern Virginia Community College Monday evening. The Riverhawks' bench accounted for a season-high 51 of the team's points.

Braeden Cavey and Keith Wyatt, Jr., led the Riverhawks reserves with 15 points each. Cavey was three for five from three-point range, while Wyatt added six rebounds. Michael Cantrell scored eight of his 10 points in the second half, adding six rebounds, five assists and a pair of blocks. Jamar Young also landed in double-digit scoring with 11 points.

A tough go from beyond the arc from the start proved almost insurmountable for the Riverhawks, but threes from Aaron McGriff and Wyatt got AACC back into the driver's seat with a 10-9 lead with 13:06 left in the first. A layup from Wyatt extended the Riverhawks' lead to three less than a minute later.

Young completed a three-point play to bring AACC back within two with 7:12 left in the first, but NOVA took control, extending the lead to as many as 13 in the frame.

AACC clawed back late to within four, using a strong inside game from Cantrell to spark a 14-4 run, capped by a Cavey three-pointer with 1:40 left. But NOVA turned up the pressure forcing the Riverhawks back outside and holding them to one bucket the rest of the way.

NOVA outrebounded the visitors, 49-41, but Anne Arundel found 21 points off of NOVA's 20 turnovers. On the flip side, AACC committed just 11 turnovers, turning into 11 Nighthawks' points. Anne Arundel finished 7 of 39 from three-point range (17.9%).

AACC, the number three seed in the upcoming NJCAA Region XX Tournament, will face second seed CCAC Saturday in the semifinals at 6 pm. The tournament is hosted by Westmoreland County Community College.