By Justin Fedich | The Selma Times-Journal

The Concordia College Alabama men’s basketball team lost to Wallace Community College Selma when the two teams met earlier in the season. The Hornets made sure to produce a different result the second time around.

The Concordia College Alabama Hornets (2-1) held off the Wallace Community College Selma Patriots 87-72. Concordia’s Jamie Washington led all scorers with 32 points.

Concordia head coach Fredrick Summers said he noticed a few key differences in his team from the last time Concordia faced Wallace.

“We played a lot better defense and rebounded a lot better,” Summers said.

After getting out to a commanding 47-33 first-half lead, the Hornets were tested by the Patriots right out of halftime. Wallace raced out to a 12-3 run, speeding the game up and trying to force turnovers with a pressure defense.

The Patriots narrowed the score to 52-47, but a subsequent 3-pointer by Ken Atwood put the Hornets back in the driver’s seat. Washington knocked down a 3-point shot shortly after to give Concordia a 58-49 lead.

Wallace kept up its pressure defense, but Concordia was undeterred. The Hornets used all the time on the shot clock to get shots they wanted. The first came on a 3-pointer from Deshon Williams as the shot clock expired to put Concordia up 68-55.

Atwood sunk another 3-point bucket with 5:31 remaining in the game as the shot clock ran out to put the game out of reach, giving Concordia a 74-59 lead.

“They just came out and made some big shots,” said Wallace head coach Duane Evans. “I think we defended the ball pretty well, but they got down late in the shot clock sometimes, and that’s tough when you get late in the shot clock like that and they’re knocking down big shots.”

Washington put an exclamation mark on his night with a final 3-point shot as the shot clock hit zero to push Concordia to a 79-63 advantage.

“We’re trying to find ourselves and figure out who we are as a team and we’ll go into the gym and work on that every day,” Evans said.

Concordia 68, Wallace 42 (women’s)

Wallace Community College Selma led Concordia College Alabama 14-9 with two minutes to play in the first quarter. Concordia went on an 8-0 run to end the quarter and never looked back.

The Concordia Hornets (5-0) trounced the Wallace Community College Selma Patriots (1-5) 68-42 Saturday at Concordia. Wallace had trouble defending the layups near the net as Concordia’s Shuntavia Harris, who scored 16 points, put the ball in the basket with ease.

“We are progressing right now,” said Concordia head coach Howard White. “The offense is coming easy. They don’t have to think about it anymore. They just flow with it.”

Trailing by five points late in the first quarter, 3-pointers by Mary Windom and Lakeeshia Pickens lifted the Hornets to a 17-14 lead by the end of the first quarter.

Concordia extended the lead in the second quarter. As Wallace lowered its deficit to three points midway through the second quarter, Pickens knocked down another 3-pointer to put Concordia up 29-23.

That shot sparked a Concordia 10-0 run, and Carshava Sutton made a layup to give Concordia a 36-23 lead over Wallace.

“A main part of our gameplan was to stop [Harris] inside and we were effectively doing that the first quarter,” said Wallace head coach Herman Turner. “We went away from what we were supposed to do, and she started doing what she’s supposed to do.”

Wallace was unable to make up ground in the second half, as Harris knocked down four field goals in the third quarter alone to push the game further out of reach for the Patriots.

“She’s a big girl that’s got good footwork and a soft touch, good hands, so you can’t beat that,” White said of Harris.

Tallamachia Dumas hit a layup at the buzzer to end the third quarter and put Concordia up 53-31. Wallace couldn’t recover, and Concordia was able to stay unbeaten on the season.