AHOSKIE – Last season Brunswick Community College’s men’s basketball team was the NCJCAA Region Ten regular season and tournament champions.

Essentially, the Brunswick Dolphins were the best community college team in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia finishing with a record of 28-6 losses.

This past Friday, Coach Johnnie Rascoe and the Roanoke-Chowan Community College (RCCC) men’s basketball team hosted Brunswick to kick off their 2005-06 schedule, and they got what they asked for in a 104-68 loss.

Rascoe wanted to schedule difficult teams early in the season, to give his inexperienced squad, many of whom had never before played in an organized game, a taste of what college basketball is really like.

Although the RCCC Blue Demons managed to play an excellent first half and trailed Brunswick by nine points at the intermission, in the second half Brunswick’s noticeable size advantage and team depth became too much for the young local team to handle.

RCCC stayed in a zone defense for much of the game as Brunswick wanted to feed their low post players.

The Brunswick squad featured four players who were six feet six inches or taller, whereas the RCCC team did not field a single player taller than six feet two inches.

Brunswick also used their depth to press RCCC full-court for most of the contest. RCCC managed to handle the pressure pretty well early, but their lack of experience showed as the game wore on.

Forward Charles Cook led the Blue Demons at the half with seven points. In the second half guard Ocie Askew tried to be more of an offensive factor, driving to the paint for some spectacular finishes trying to keep the Blue Demons within reach of the surging Dolphins.

Although RCCC would eventually finish the game with four players in double figures, the depth and size of the Brunswick squad eventually began to overwhelm the young RCCC group as the Dolphins cruised to a 104 – 68 victory here in Ahoskie.

Despite the second half collapse, Rascoe was optimistic about his team’s upcoming season.

&uot;We played well in the first half…&uot; Rascoe said &uot;It’s going to be an uphill battle all season to get these guys to be able to put forth the kind of intensity they will need to compete on this level, but I liked our effort. We need to work on our turnovers, and keeping our composure on the court.&uot;

Roanoke Chowan Community College’s next game is versus Chowan College on Tuesday, December 6, at the campus of RCCC in Ahoskie at 7 p.m.

Leading scorers:

RCCC – O. Askew, J. Askew (12) Brunswick – Burgess (19).