By: Maya Dawson, Sports Editor

The Builders of Apprentice School came to Echols Hall to face the Spartans, Thursday, November 14. The Spartans were coming off a loss against Ole Miss University and came back home to face the Builders to get a much needed win. The score was 113-54.

The Spartans received a panel for the achievements from last season. It shows their score for their win over #1 ranked Alabama in the NIT Tournament last year. The then #8 ranked Spartans had a huge upset over the Crimson Tide winning 80-79 in overtime. They were a 16.5 point underdog but that didn’t stop them. Derrick Jamerson Jr. was the driving force for us having 25 points in that huge win. 

The panel is right across from the panel for the win in the NCAA tournament for the win over #2 ranked Missouri with Kyle O’Quinn in 2012.

The game against the Apprentice School was close at the beginning but then the Spartans went on a 18-0 run to go up 20 points at the 4:54 mark in the first half. Jermaine Bishop led the team in points in the first with 13 points.

For the rest of the first half there was no stopping us. We hit 9 threes on 13 attempts in the first. We were on fire and we were playing a brick wall style of defense. 

The Builders shot 25.8% from the field in the first half going 8-31. We were causing havoc on the court causing eleven turnovers to go along with our seven steals. Joe Bryant Jr. had four to really spark the defense that was unable to be stopped. Seventeen points were scored off of turnovers in the first half, which allowed us to extend the lead even more.

We were up 55-23 at the half, but we kept on coming. Bryant Jr. caught fire for us scoring 18 points in the second half. He was 7-8 from the field with four threes to just demolish the Builders. He finished the game with a career high 25 points to go along with six steals and five rebounds.

The Spartans made 62.5% of their threes going 20/32 from beyond the arc. They set a new school record for threes made in a game. They also tied their record for assists in a game with 26. They were breaking every record they could that night.

Jermaine Bishop finished with 21 points with 5 threes. Steven Whitley had 14 points, six assists, and was a perfect six for six from the free throw line. Devante finished with a double-double adding 16 points and ten assists along with 7 steals.

The leading scorer for the Builders was Marion Moore who had 17 points and seven rebounds on 8 of 16 shooting. Drew Walton also had 16 points with five rebounds on 6 of 10 shooting.

The Spartans (3-1) next home game is on Tuesday, November 26 against Caldwell.