J.C. Smith tops Apprentice to secure 500th win for coach Steve Joyner
J.C. Smith’s Golden Bulls were eager to deliver Steve Joyner’s 500th win.
A dominant second half secured the Golden Bulls a 104-88 win against Apprentice School in the Tip-Off Classic at Brayboy Gym to put Joyner in elite coaching company.
He joins Winston-Salem State’s Big House Gaines and Virginia Union’s Dave Robbins – Basketball Hall of Fame inductees – as the only CIAA coaches to reach the milestone.
“It’s moments like this that you want something everybody can rally behind,” said Joyner, who is in his 29th season. “They want it as much for you as for themselves. I thought it was a team goal, not an individual goal, to get it out of the way.”
To get there, J.C. Smith (3-1) did its part, hitting 50 percent (40-of-80) of its field goal tries and forcing 23 Apprentice School turnovers. Five Golden Bulls hit double-digits, with forward Stedmon Lemon leading the way with 20 points on 10-of-17 shooting.
“It was big for us,” Lemon said. “We were trying to stay focused coming in (because) Carson-Newman was a big win for us Wednesday night, so we were trying to keep the team focused on the bigger picture, the bigger goal.”
J.C. Smith connected on 51.4 percent of its shots in the first half compared with Apprentice’s 34.4 percent, yet the Builders trailed only 47-42 at the break because they converted 15-of-19 free throws. The second half was different as the Golden Bulls sped the tempo and turned to the transition game with Lemon and Robert Davis (17 points, 10 rebounds) leading the charge.
“It was mainly about focus and attitude,” Lemon said. “We’ve got to learn to keep the right attitude. Coming home, we had the home crowd and the energy was up. It’s about keeping the right attitude and staying together.”
William Wilcox paced Apprentice with 18 points and eight rebounds, and Zach Johnson added 15 points.
Shooting guard Josh Linson added 14 points for J.C. Smith, and centers Alandre Davis and Malik Ford scored 12 and 10, respectively.
This story was originally published November 20, 2015 at 10:58 PM with the headline "J.C. Smith tops Apprentice to secure 500th win for coach Steve Joyner."