Pure Prep No Match For Saints in Non-Conference Finale
| Final | 1 | 2 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Pure Prep Academy (0-7) | 23 | 12 | 35 |
|
Seward County Community College (7-6) | 53 | 46 | 99 |
While it certainly didn't have the drama leading in, or even after the tip, of a late February matchup with Hutchinson, the Seward County Saints kept their focus and took care of business Wednesday night in the Greenhouse, blowing visiting Pure Prep Academy off the floor to the tune of a 99-35 victory to push themselves above .500 for the first time this season.
The Saints got off to a good start against the severely undermanned prep squad from Iowa, scoring the first eight points of the game before jumping out to an 18-4 lead to begin the game. A mini 8-2 run by Pure Prep cut the Saints lead back to single digits, but that didn't last for long as Seward quickly pushed their advantage back to a dozen on back to back hoops from Evan Allen and Jamal Poplar before the under 10 media timeout. Leading by 13 with just under 8:00 to go in the half, the Saints exploded on the offensive end of the floor, outscoring Pure Prep 23-6 into the break to take a 30 point, 53-23 lead into the intermission.
Seven straight points from Nick Singleton early in the second half put the Saints up by 40 and Seward didn't stop there, taking a 50 point advantage later on on a bucket from Otevious Loudermilk to make it a 77-27 game. The route was on and the only thing left to be decided was what the final margin would be and the answer was 64 as Seward took the game 99-35 in the end to improve to 7-6 on the year.
The Saints dominated every facet of the game in the win, shooting 53% in the contest while holding Pure Prep to just 11 field goals on the night and a 25% clip shooting the ball. Seward also had a decisive advantage on the boards, outrebounding the prepsters 50-28 and they committed just 13 turnovers to Pure Prep's 33. Singleton led the Saints with 18 points on 8 of 10 shooting while Poplar had 16 and Allen 15 in the win.
Seward puts themselves on top of the .500 mark for the first time this season at 7-6 with their third straight win while Pure Prep remains winless in 2014 at 0-7.
The game wraps up the Saints non-conference schedule in 2014-2015 as Seward will now be idle for three weeks before getting into Jayhawk West Conference play on Saturday, January 3rd when they travel to Barton to kick off league play.