Cougars Fall to Camp in Hard-Fought Thriller 69-67

Sunday afternoon, the Frederick Community College Cougars men's basketball lost a hard-fought battle to the Paul D. Camp Community College Hurricanes 69-67. The closely contested game features 11 lead changes and six ties in a back-and-forth battle.

FCC scored the first two points of the game, and Camp's Keimari Artis answered with one of his eight made three-pointers to give the Hurricanes an early lead. The Cougars would step on the gas and answer with an 11-3 run to take a seven-point lead, their largest lead of the game, five minutes into the first half. Malik Witherspoon was a dominant force in the paint, only two points shy of a 1st half-double-double, pulling down 12 rebounds. But the Hurricanes would continue to cut into the Cougars' lead, and, with a made lay-up at the buzzer, Camp would hold a narrow 32-31 lead going into halftime. 

The Cougars came out of halftime to quickly tie up the score and regain the lead with a lay-up from Mike Davis 90 seconds into the second half, 37-35. The Cougars would hold off the Hurricanes for most of the second half, leading by as many as five points. Terrell Neal orchestrated the offense, scoring 11 of his 13 points and three of his four assists in the second half. Witherspoon remained dominant on the boards, pulling down 14 rebounds in the second half. 

Camp would retake the lead with a three from Artis with five minutes remaining, 61-59 minutes. In the final minutes of the game, there were three lead changes and three ties, and when the dust settled, the Cougars found themselves on the low end of the scoreboard. 

Witherspoon finished with 18 points and 26 rebounds. Neal and Morrisey both added 13 points, while Jaden Arrington chipped in with seven points, and Davis finished with seven points and ten rebounds in the two-point loss to the Hurricanes. 

Cougars men's basketball record is 9-8 overall as they shift their focus to host Christendom College for their Sink Pink Game on Wednesday at 7 pm at the Athletics Center.