Sinclair men’s basketball breezes past Wittenberg 98-69 improves to 5-1

By Amy Brown/Sinclair Sports Information

Dayton, OH---The Sinclair men's basketball team (5-1) hosted Wittenberg (1-1) in a rare Thursday night showdown.   With a closely matched first half, Sinclair played a dominant second half and got the 98-69 victory, as they get set for back-to-back road contests this weekend in Michigan.

Sinclair took a 4-2 lead to start the game but Wittenberg pounded a three-pointer putting them up 5-4.  Trace Cureton then went coast to coast off a rebound to regain the lead 6-5.  Ramar Hairston hit a three-pointer to put Sinclair up 9-7. Trace Cureton hit a three-pointer to give Sinclair a 21-16 advantage.  Aaron Montgomery hit a three-pointer to put Sinclair up 24-18.  Sinclair seemed to get in an up-tempo offensive rhythm for the rest of the half.  Marquez Carpenter-Mathis drained a three-pointer at the buzzer to end the first half and send Sinclair into the locker room with a 46-31 lead. Trace Cureton and CJ Reed led the first half with nine points each.    

Trace Cureton started out owning the second half with back-to-back buckets and then an assist to Conner Myslowski who drained a three-pointer making the Sinclair lead 57-39.  Westley Parr hit a jumper to put Sinclair up 79-58 with under 6:00 minutes to play and Sinclair controlled the rest of the game rather convincingly from there.  With under 2:00 minutes remaining CJ Reed hit a three-pointer giving Sinclair a 94-66 lead.   Sinclair dominated the offensive side of the ball shooting above 60% from the field and above 40% from the 3pt line in both half's.

Scoring leaders for Sinclair included Trace Cureton (6-4/SO – Cathedral H.S., Indianapolis, IN) who scored 26 points and added four rebounds and three assists.  Westley Parr (6-7/FR – Benedictine H.S., Cleveland, OH) had 16 points and four rebounds on the night.  Ramar Hairston (6-1/FR – Northwest H.S., Cincinnati, OH) and Deiontay Walters (5-10/FR – Princeton H.S., Cincinnati, OH) both recorded nine points and led the team with seven assists each.  Charles Sweatt-Washington (6-7/FR – Lafayette H.S., Lexington, KY) led the team with seven rebounds.

Sinclair will be on the road the weekend before Thanksgiving, when both the men's and women's teams will travel to Grand Rapids, Michigan to take on Calvin College (JV) and Mid-Michigan CC.  Before they leave for Michigan on Friday November 22, 2013, the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's assassination, the teams will head over to the National Museum of the United States Air Force here in Dayton.  The teams will tour the Air Force One that President Kennedy flew down to Dallas in that fateful day and the same plane that President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in that very same day.    The tour will take place at 4:00 PM, around the same time that President Johnson was sworn in as the 36th President of the United States, 50 years ago.  Sinclair's next home game will be on Wednesday December 4, 2013, when they host Ivy Tech College.  Tip-off against Ivy Tech will be at 7:30 PM following the women's game which will be at 5:30 in building 8 at Sinclair Community College.