When South Arkansas College takes the court Saturday in the Central Plains District Championship game, the opponent they will be facing is one that gets the job done with defense, rebounding and simply not beating themselves.
St. Louis (Mo.) Community College (22-9), the Region 16 champion, advanced to Saturday’s tilt by topping No. 11 North Central Missouri 67-64.
It was the Archers’ first win over the Pirates after North Central Missouri won by scores of 83-70 in January and 77-66 last month.
So what was the difference between the third game and the first two contests?
“Unlike the other two times when we played them and they beat us by about 10, we were able to control the tempo,” St. Louis coach Terry Collins said. “They’re similar in that way to SouthArk. I think North Central Missouri averages about 93 points per game. We don’t have the depth to stay up with that. If we don’t control the tempo, we’re in trouble. That’s where we hang our hat is to control tempo and guard well. That’s what we’ve got to do. If we don’t, we’ll be in trouble, if we do, we’ll have a chance to compete.
“That’s what happened in that third game is we were able to control the tempo, handle their pressure, took care of the ball, took good shots and guarded them a little bit so the score was in the 60s instead of the high 70s or 80s.”
The Archers rank No. 1 in Division II in allowing the fewest points per game this season, checking in at 62.9.
“I think it’s a combination of two things,” Collins said. “Controlling tempo. It doesn’t mean we’re the best defense in the country, it just means we give up the fewest points, which is a different thing. If you control tempo, you’re not going to give up as many points, but we also guard pretty well. As long we don’t let people get out and run, we contain people and force them into a game where they have to make some jump shots.
“We try to avoid sending people to the (free-throw) line a lot just by playing good position defense. We don’t gamble a lot. There’s good and bad with that. We don’t force a lot of turnovers, so that means we can’t get out and get some easy baskets off turnovers. With the roster we have, that’s the way we have to play. We’ve been able to do it most of the season and keep people under control. Even in a good number of the losses, we might get beat 65-63 or something like that, so we’re giving ourselves a chance to win.”
The Archers enter their showdown with the Stars having won eight of their last nine games with their lone blemish being the aforementioned 77-66 loss to North Central Missouri in February.
St. Louis began their torrid stretch run by knocking off Mineral Area (Mo.) College 63-59 in overtime on Feb. 5.
The Cardinals at the time were undefeated and ranked No. 2 in the Division I poll.
“It kind of started when we played Mineral Area,” Collins said. “They came into our place, and we really did a great job of controlling tempo and limiting their second-chance points. We ended up beating them and the game was in the 60s. It started with that, and it obviously gave us great confidence that if we can do that against them, we can do it against anyone as long as we assert control of the game.”
The Archers have great balance with four players averaging double figures and sophomore guard Demarco Buchanan is at 9.9 points per game.
Sophomore Jemeal Goines not only ranks second on the team in scoring at 15.2 points per game, he is also seventh in the country in rebounding at 11.4 per game and leads all of Division II in total offensive rebounds with 128.
In the Region 16 final, Goines erupted for 21 points and 22 rebounds. He was 7-of-8 from the floor and added four assists.
Sophomore Devin Davis leads the team in scoring at 15.3 per game with fellow sophomores Julius Erby (12.9) and Jamaray Davenport (11.7) also in double figures.
The Archers also rank 15th in the country with a rebounding margin of plus-11.7.
“We’re not all that physical,” Collins said. “We’re not slight or weak in that sense, but we don’t have a big anchor in the middle. We have a guard that’s 6-1, and everyone else is 6-2, 6-3, 6-4, 6-6, so we have decent size and everybody contributes to the glass. Jemeal Goines has been a force, and he was our leading rebounder last year. He’s just gotten better this year. It’s really a collective job in terms of getting everyone to the glass, especially on the defensive glass to limit the other team to one shot.”
One other stat to keep an eye on is that the Archers have attempted nearly 200 more free throws than their opponents, but Collins said that number isn’t quite accurate.
“I think we do a good job of that,” Collins said. “I think that stat gets a little skewed because we’ve played some JV teams, so sometimes those stats don’t get entered. They aren’t going to be as reflective of the objective reality as the NCAA stat line.
“It’s probably not as extreme as it would appear. However, I do think we do a good job of getting to the foul line. I think it’s trying to control tempo. We’re not just going to fire up the first shot that’s available, we’re trying to get a better shot. When you do that, you’re going to get fouled more. That definitely helps. We’re not bad, but we’re not a great free-throw shooting team. We get there and we’re reasonably efficient at converting.”
St. Louis is no stranger to the Central Plains District Championship game. The Archers last appeared in 2017, knocking off ASU Mid-South on the road to reach the national tournament.
Now they are aiming to get back to the national tournament needing another victory away from home to get there.