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At the start of the season the consensus around the league was that Stevens would finish near the bottom; but the Bulldogs led by Antwine Tucker and Maurice Jackson fought to an 8-2 first half record. The Bulldogs started the season with two goals in mind: to win the Championship, and to host our first school playoff game in the beautiful confines of the MAC Center. During the first half of the season we received great contributions from our sophomores Richard Craighead (who controlled the middle), Ryan Bleecher (a tough hard nose guard who never backed down), and Antoine Woodard (a pesky defensive machine off the bench).
The sophomores provided much needed leadership over a team dominated by an outstanding freshman class headed by Daryl Baltimore Jr., Daulton Derr, Antonio Troutman, Kristian Morgan, Keyon Staples, Michael Morales, Mark McGuire and Miguel Linares. In addition, we received great contributions during the first half of the season from standout freshman Ronmale Hutt, who didn't finish the season with us but will return for his sophomore campaign.
The sophomores, with Coach Curtis Cannon's, help set a standard of hard work, accountability, integrity and teamwork. The bulldogs ended the first half winning five straight games. The winning streak continued reaching 10 games. The Bulldogs hit a rough patch in the season, in which they played 11 games in 24 days. Fighting through fatigue the bulldogs went 8-3 the second half of the season earning them the third seed in EPCC playoffs.
In the first round the Bulldogs accomplished one of the two goals set at the start of the season by hosting a playoff game. In addition, the Bulldogs hosted Darryl Dawkins (former Philadelphia 76ers center) and the Lehigh Carbon Community College in the first round. The Bulldogs put together a strong performance to close out Lehigh’s season. The second round posed a much rougher test when the Bulldogs faced a tough hardnosed defensive team in the Harrisburg Area Community College (H.A.C.C). The Bulldogs pulled the victory out thanks to late game heroics by Maurice Jackson and Antoine Tucker. The Bulldogs found themselves in the Championship game down in Philadelphia against historically talented Philadelphia Community College. The Bulldogs are champions in their own right. It took a 41 point effort by Philadelphia's Rasheed Slappy to end Stevens’ season 72-78 giving them a storybook ending season. The season is marked by 3 All-Star Students earning appearances in the Sam Cozen Small College All-Star Basketball Game to be played Saturday March 20, 2010 at the Community College of Philadelphia at 3:00 p.m.; students participating are: Maurice Jackson, Antoine Woodard and Antwine Tucker. We would like to extend congratulations to the Thaddeus Steven's Bulldogs Basketball Team their second place finish in EPCC. |
