South Arkansas College made history last year when the baseball team reached the NJCAA Division II World Series in only their second year of playing.
Today, the men’s basketball team will take aim at their first trip to the NJCAA Division II Men’s National Tournament in their fifth year since the program was brought back and in Cam Robinson’s second year at the helm of the program.
SouthArk (22-6), the Region 2 champion, takes on St. Louis (Mo.) Community College (22-9), the Region 16 champion, in the Central Plains District Championship game with the winner moving on to the national tournament, which is held in Danville, Ill.
Game time is set for 5 p.m. at Wildcat Arena on the campus of El Dorado High School.
Both teams got to the title game by upending ranked opponents.
The Stars handed No. 1-ranked National Park College their first loss of the season with a 62-60 win in the Region 2 title game, while the Archers knocked off No. 11 North Central Missouri 67-64 in the Region 16 final.
The Region 2 winner has had the upper hand of late having won the last three years following wins by SAU Tech in 2021 and 2022 and ASU Mid-South last year.
Both teams have been on hot streaks down the stretch.
The Stars have won 12 of their last 14 games, while the Archers have won eight of their last nine games.
Both squads are strikingly similar in that they have balanced scoring attacks and solid margins in rebounding.
Sophomore Devin Davis leads the Archers in scoring at 15.3 per game with fellow sophomores Julius Erby (12.9) and Jamaray Davenport (11.7) also in double figures. Sophomore guard Demarco Buchanan is at 9.9 points per game.
Jemeal Goines, also a sophomore, averages 15.2 points per game, but he is also one of Division II’s top rebounders at 11.4 per game. He 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.
The Stars counter with sophomore Troy’reon Ramos, who was named to the NJCAA Division II All-Region 2 squad this week while averaging 17.4 points per game along with 6.4 assists. He had 22 points and six assists in the win over National Park on Sunday.
Sophomores Braedon Edison (15.5), Raheem Briggs (12.9), Jamarian Cato (11.8) and Damian Garcia (11.7) also average double figures with Edison leading the Stars in rebounding at seven per game.
Both squads also get the job done defensively with the Archers the top team in Division II in allowing just 62.9 points per game, while the Stars held National Park to just 36% from the floor.
But where they differ greatly is in the pace they want to play at, and which team is able to dictate tempo could be the team that moves on.
“Scrappy team, physical team,” Robinson said of the Archers. “They don’t really play up tempo. They’ve got seven guys, so they play a real slow-down system, a lot of action to create for Devin Davis. They do a lot of back-door actions, some stuff that has a lot of body movement, so guys have to really communicate. They’ve got two guys that really like to crash the glass inside. It will be a physical game, one that we cannot allow them to control the tempo.”
St. Louis coach Terry Collins said the Stars will provide a stern test for his defense.
“They certainly have got multiple ways they can attack,” Collins said. “They’ll be a challenge to guard. They’re averaging 90 points a game. They do it in a lot of different ways. I don’t think it’s like, if we stop this, we’ll be OK.”
Collins singled out Ramos, but he added that the Archers will have to contend with SouthArk’s perimeter shooting.
“I think Ramos is a handful,” Collins said. “Any guy that has the assists to turnovers that he has, shoots the ball well from the three, gets to the foul line and finishes there, he’s obviously very, very efficient. You can’t let him control the game entirely, otherwise you’re in for it. I think it starts with that. As a team, they’re shooting 39% from the 3-point line, which is elite.
“And it’s not just one or two guys, it’s up and down the roster. There’s multiple weapons, so we’re going to have to find a way to limit that damage. I think the other thing that is significant is the team rebounding margin is very impressive. They outrebound their opponents by about nine. Every guy in the starting lineup is averaging five or more rebounds except for Ramos, and he’s averaging three. It’s an imposing roster.”
The Stars slowed the tempo against National Park, and Robinson said while his team can play at that pace, it’s definitely not his preference.
“We’re not too different as far as they play slow and we like to play fast, but I’m big on balance,” Robinson said. “With National Park in the second half, what allowed us to be able to get back into the game and get the lead was slowing them down and playing under control.
“If we would’ve played fast with them, that’s more what National Park wants. We had to slow them down. We’re capable of playing in the slow-down system, but I’m all about balance. It will be different because we know we need to put them in transition situations in order to put us in a situation to have an advantage.”
The battle on the glass is also one with plenty of intrigue.
“We’ve got a few guys that can really crash the glass, they’ve got Goines and Erby that really attack you hard,” Robinson said. “They’ll shoot the ball and follow their own shot and get the rebound. They’re physical and tough, like to throw their bodies in there, so if we don’t box out and know where those two guys are when it comes to rebounding the ball, they can make it a long day for us.
“They’re tenacious with it. Buchanan, their point guard is 6-3 and averaging five rebounds a game. He’s crashing the glass as well. Our guards really have to be on top of it and make sure they’re handling their business on boxing out.”
When asked if there were any particular matchups that would be crucial, Robinson said finding a way to slow down Davis would be a top priority.
“Just looking at the games I’ve been watching, I’m thinking about going with a couple of matchups to put on Davis,” Robinson said. “If we can limit him on being able to get clean looks and keep them out of the paint, I think that will put us in a position to win the game. We have depth, so if our bench can come in and wear them out, our starters can come in and do the rest. I think that will be the difference there.”
With the game at Wildcat Arena, Robinson said his team will have to adjust to playing at a new venue.
“A little bit,” Robinson said. “We’ve never been over there. It will definitely be different. As much as it is a home game for us, it’s still like a neutral site because this is not the court that we normally play on, so we’ll have to adjust to the court and the rims just like St. Louis will.
“We’ll be able to get a practice on it, so we’ll have a little bit of an advantage, but if we were at the school, we definitely would have an advantage. We’ll be OK. We’ve been in this situation. It’s nothing that we’re not used to.”
One other aspect for the winner of today’s game is that the players will get a bigger opportunity to showcase themselves in front of four-year coaches in Illinois.
“That’s part of the motivation,” Collins said. “You want to keep playing and have more and more people have an opportunity to see you play so you can have a number of choices to make when it comes to advancing to a four-year university.”
For the Archers, Collins said there were several factors that will be paramount for their success.
“I think we have to manage all of the elements so that by tip-off time, we’re just playing up to our potential as a basketball team,” Collins said. “There’s a lot of things that go into that. Practice this week that we’re staying sharp, handling that seven-hour bus drive, really taking care of our bodies when we get there with good nutrition and sleep, staying fresh and staying alert so that by tip-off time, we are who we are. We’re not a lesser version of ourselves.
“If we do that and we play the way we want to play, which is be able to control tempo, take care of the ball, take good shots, play good defense, then it will be a competitive game. Whether that leads to a ‘W’ or not, there’s always going to be some elements that you don’t control in terms of outcome, so I think it’s just the ability to take care of ourselves, stay fresh and then just approach our task, focus on our task and not got get overly worried about results because if you do that, you’re not going to play well.”
Robinson said there were several keys for the Stars as well.
“Defense, guard, don’t allow them to get into the paint, make shots,” Robinson said. “If we get them into some foul trouble, that will definitely help. They play seven guys, so if we’re able to get them in foul trouble without forcing it, limit how they play to control the tempo, I think that will put us in position. If we can control the tempo of the game, win the rebounding battle and make our layups, we’ll be good. They do a good job defensively of making sure that things don’t get in the paint very easily. We really have got to work around that and get in there and then just do what we do at the same time.”