By Nathan Deen
Published on November 7, 2007
After PJC’s 101-62 victory over the Delgado Community College Dolphins, head coach Paul Swanson said that it had been at least a couple of years since his team scored over 100 points in a single game.
45 of those points were off the 30 turnovers committed by Delgado. 51 of those points came from the PJC bench. PJC shot 51 percent from the field and had five players finish the game in double figures. Forward Petras Balocka had his third straight double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Forward Jalin Thomas was PJC’s high scorer with 17 points. Guards Sasha Parghalava and Virgil Philistin each had 15 points. Forward Eugene Blue had 11 points.
Delgado got off to a quick start, leading 12-4 early. All 12 points were scored by freshman Ricaardo Porter, who quickly cooled off after the early run. Porter finished with 17 points. Dolphin head coach Tommy Smith said his team just ran out of gas early and attributed that to the experience and smarts shown by the PJC players.
PJC gained momentum off some late first half turnovers by Delgado and carried that momentum over to the second half. Philistin broke the game open by making two steals and two fast-break lay-ups back to back. Swanson said that this was the point where the game turned to PJC’s favor. PJC outscored Delgado 58-31 in the second half.
One of the very few things to go wrong for PJC on Saturday night was the 28 fouls they committed, 17 of which were on forwards. Swanson said his post players need to play smarter on post defense.
“They’re reacting rather than anticipating,” said Swanson.
Delgado came into the game undersized with no player over 6′ 6″, and very inexperienced with 12 freshmen on the team. Delgado is one of the many New Orleans area programs still recovering from Hurricane Katrina. The Dolphins had to cancel their season in 2005 and were unable to play at all in 2006. Delgado head coach Tommy Smith said that they have taken the first step to rejuvenating the program and that getting the program back to where it was will take time.
The two teams will meet again on Dec. 7th in New Orleans, La. at the New Orleans Arena. The game will precede an NBA game between the New Orleans Hornets and the Memphis Grizzlies.
PJC’s next game will be at Missouri State University in West Plains, Mo. at 7:00 p.m., part of the West Plains Tournament.