WYE MILLS - His Chesapeake College men’s basketball teams have won a whopping 52 games the past two seasons, including going 29-4 this winter.
That may be more games won than in any other back-to-back Skipjacks team in school history.
But this season marked another achievement is the one for which coach Andrew Sachs and his players have been waiting.
That is advancing to the 16-team National Junior College Athletic Association Division II National Tournament March 21-25 in Danville, Illinois for the first time.
That came after Chesapeake won the Region 20 tournament March 11 with a convincing 79-59 victory over Montgomery College at Frederick Community College. The Skipjacks also took the regional championship in the 2007-2008 season.
“This is a dream of mine,” said Chesapeake sophomore guard Lamont Powell, an Easton High graduate who earned tournament MVP honors. “For all of us, it’s a great opportunity to get noticed by four-year schools.”
A 14-game winning streak has given the Skipjacks – ranked No. 12 in the country in the NJCAA Division II men’s basketball poll -- a big dose of confidence.
Chesapeake’s players want another title. They’re not going to be satisfied with just reaching nationals.
The No. 9 seeded Skipjacks will face No. 8 seed and Michigan’s Macomb Community College in the opening round on one of the first two days of the tournament. The winner will meet the team in the quarters that prevails between the No. 1 seed Davidson-Davie (32-0) of North Carolina versus No. 16 Florida Gateway College (15-11).
“We are not going (to Danville) just to play,” Chesapeake sophomore guard JayShaun Freeman said. “We going to try and win the whole thing. It will be pretty hard to do. I don’t think any of the games will be like a large win. I think all the games will be close.”
Two of the games in the Region 20 Tournament weren’t close for Chesapeake.
Chesapeake got off to a slow start against Montgomery but led by eight points at half time. The Skipjacks took over in the second half, quickly pushing its lead to 15 points en route to the win.
“If you look at the games we have played back-to-back, we haven’t shot very well in game two,” said Sachs, whose team played Cecil College the day before. “That was a worry, but it washed away in the second half because we shot 59 percent. We shot 30 percent in the first half.”
Chesapeake had five players score in double digits and were led by Kent County High graduate Freeman (18 points, 5 assists), Powell 17, 6), Ezekiel Edwards (15 points, 8 rebounds), DJ Earl (14 points, 6 rebounds) and Justin DeMaria (11 points, 6 rebounds. 5 steals).
The semifinal game versus Cecil College was a different story. The Skipjacks prevailed 88-83.
DeMaria, a sophomore guard, paced Chesapeake with 21 points, seven rebounds and three assists.
“He has been great since the middle of December,” Sachs said. “He’s probably shooting close to 50 percent from the three-point line since that time.”
Freeman (19 points), Earl (16), Powell (13) and Izaiah Credle (10) also excelled for the winners.
The Skipjacks opened the tournament in Wye Mills in impressive fashion, thumping Garrett College, 84-62. Chesapeake got an early lead and never let Garrett back into the game.
DeMaria totaled 18 points and seven rebounds and Powell added 17 points and four rebounds.
Sachs, a third-year coach, recalls what kind of shape the program was in when he took over.
“I take a lot of pride in building a program from scratch,” the third-year coach said. There we no starters returning. We have put the program on the map nationally.”