Men’s Basketball Team Eliminated At State Tournament—Ending Sharks Comeback Season
By all metrics, the Miami Dade College men’s basketball team had a comeback season.
They won seven more games (17) than the previous year—including four more conference wins (6)—and qualified for the State Tournament for the first time in eight years.
But their season ended on March 9 in Niceville, Florida in the first round of the State Tournament. The Sharks, who held a 35-20 lead at the end of the first half, fell 62-60 versus Chipola College, the No. 6 ranked team in the nation.
Forward Jamichael Stillwell led the MDC attack with 20 points and eight rebounds. Freshman Tyriek Weeks added nine points and seven rebounds and sophomore point guard Abdias “Speedy” Carcamo, who played for the first time since January, added five points, five rebounds and three assists in 25 minutes of action.
“We’re happy with what we did,” said Sharks assistant coach Dillon “DJ” Jenkins. “I don’t want [to] play that ‘what if’ card because we had a great year and we did a lot of good things.”
This year’s highlights included a nine-game winning streak and two wins versus Florida Southwestern State College, which was ranked 22nd in the nation earlier this year.
Miami Dade College, who finished the season with a 17-14 record, also featured two players—Weeks and Stillwell—who were on the national Fab 50 Junior College List. The duo was also selected First-Team All-Southern Conference by the Florida College System Activities Association.
Weeks led the team in scoring with 14.3 points per game and he added 7.4 rebounds. Stillwell led the Sharks with 8.4 rebounds per game and averaged 13.9 points.
Freshman guard Dylan Edwards earned Second-Team honors; he averaged 7.7 points per game.
Sophomores Stephen Augustine, Elijah Hoard and Ibrahim Wattara were awarded honorable mention honors.
“I believe we probably could have done more but I’m still happy and grateful,” Weeks said. “We didn’t get the outcome we wanted but it was still a great experience.”
Women’s Basketball
For the second straight season, the Lady Sharks had a down year. They were 5-23 including a 2-7 mark in conference play.
The Lady Sharks lost five games to end the season and had a 10-game losing streak early in the year including a 76-point loss against Eastern Florida State College on Dec. 7.
The team has a combined record of 11-46 the past two seasons and they have not qualified for the State Tournament in three years.
Despite the rough season, Lady Sharks Lianyi Becquer Leblanch and Jaya Nelson earned First-Team All-Southern Conference honors.
Nelson, a sophomore, led the team in scoring with 16.1 points per game. Leblanch, a freshman, led the Lady Sharks in rebounding with 8.6 per contest and added 10.8 points a game.
Forwards Genesis Alarcon, Aichatou Camara and Iva Cholakoska were awarded Second-Team All-Southern Conference honors.
Alarcon averaged 8.3 rebounds, Cholakoska scored 10.6 points per game and Camara averaged 7. 5 points and 4.8 rebounds. Cholakoska and Alarcon are freshmen.
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