Sophomore Anthony Hilliard. Copyright SportsFotos

The Buccaneers Men’s Basketball team ended the season with 4 straight wins and a final win over #24 ranked Wake Tech to garner their first 20 win season in program history. The best previously was a 19-7 season in 2006-97. The Bucs finish with a 20-10 overall record and an 8-6 conference record which locks them into the 4th seed of the tournament and 1 of only 4 teams to have an above .500 record in conference action. The Bucs saw big wins this season beating DIII #1 Sandhills CC 84-40 in December and #24 Wake Tech to end the season.

The Bucs started out fast winning 6 of their first 7 games with their only loss coming to Spartanburg Methodist College who is currently ranked #1 in the NJCAA DI polls, but more importantly it has been the end of the season that has led the Bucs to their 20 wins. Despite injuries and a limited bench the Bucs were able to close the season winning 7 of their last 10 including a 4 game wining steak to end the season.

The Bucs have seen the sophomores step up this season with 4 sophomores averaging in double digits scoring per game; Preston Earle 13.0, Anthony Hilliard 12.8, Isaiah Cuthbertson 12.2, and Terrance Polk 10.8. Freshman Josh McClain has also supplied an offensive spark with averaging 12.9 points per game. Cuthbertson and Polk have also been doing work on the boards with both averaging 8.2 rebounds per game.

Sophomore Preston Earle. Copyright SportsFotos

The Bucs will play host for the upcoming NJCAA DII Region X/District 6 tournament which will see the Bucs as the #4 seed. They will play their first game against Lenoir CC who they had beaten twice during the regular season with a 89-82 win at home and a 75-71 at Lenoir. The #4 Bucs will take on #5 Lenoir CC at 3:00pm on Friday, March 8th in the Tarlton Complex on CVCC’s campus.