There are almost 5,000 views on YouTube of Daquain Towns’ full court dash for the buzzer beater that beat No. 1 seed Brookdale CC on March 15, 2012, setting the stage for Sandhills Community College winning its first NJCAA Division III Championship.
Towns was recently added to the coaching staff of the Flyers, joining Head Coach Mike Apple, and assistant coach and former teammate Tramaine Pride from the 2012 title squad.
Apple came to Sandhills after a successful high school coaching career at Western Harnett and Pinecrest High Schools. Last March, the Flyers wrapped up the basketball program’s second national title in Rochester, MN.
The Start of Something Big
The sixth-seeded Flyers trailed the team from New Jersey 92-91 with 3.8 seconds remaining before calling a timeout in the opening round game held at Sullivan County CC in Loch Sheldrake, NY.
“I knew I wanted Daquain to have the ball in his hands,” said Apple who also coached both Towns and Pride at Pinecrest before taking over the reins at Sandhills before the start of the 2011-12 season. “I thought Daquain provided the best opportunity to get a shot because of his extraordinary jumping ability and he’s left-handed which a lot of times is an advantage.”
The then-Flyer sophomore admits to being surprised by the coach’s decision.
“It was one of the first times I can remember that a play was called for me,” Towns recalled following an early morning practice last week. “You can see by the look on my face in the video I was thinking, ‘he really just called a play for me?’.
“Louis (Craft) threw the ball in and I came by in a curl. Luckily, my man, who was one of their top players, had four fouls and he really couldn’t pick me up so I ended up going past him. I got the best shot I could from about the three-point line. I still don’t know how I got up the court that fast.”
Towns used the left-handedness to his advantage. He kept his body between his dribbling and shooting hand, and the defender during the 80-foot dash. The photograph taken by Donna Ford shows the release of the ball with 0.1 seconds on the clock.
“Everything just felt like it was in slow motion until the ball went through the net and then everything sped back up,” he said. “Coach Apple gave me the big photo of the shot from his office. I still look at it every day.”
His coach wasn’t surprised the shot went in.
“A lot of the shots he took that year went in,” Apple said. “He had a good year for us and that just added to the legend I guess.”
The championship run continued with a pulsating 85-84 overtime victory over Bronx CC and a 101-86 win over Cedar Valley College for the national title. Towns scored a team-high 18 points in the finale and was named the tournament MVP. Teammate Markell Lotharp was an all-tournament selection.
Pride contributed nine points and seven rebounds off the bench as 13 different Flyers got into the scoring column as a part of a tremendous team effort. The following week the Moore County community celebrated the accomplishment with a parade in Southern Pines.
Building on the Success
The championship came in the fourth season of Flyers’ basketball. Aaron Denton was the coach and athletic director for the first three years when the home games were played in the gym at The O’Neal School.
Apple, who now holds the dual roles of coach and athletic director, described inheriting seven players from Denton’s 24-7 squad as part of the “Perfect Storm” that made the championship run that included 15 wins in the last 16 games possible.
In November of 2015, Towns and several other members of the first championship team were on hand for the first basketball game played at the expanded Heins Gymnasium now known as “The Hangar”.
“It has been suggested that Daquain’s shot might have built the gym and there is a lot of truth to that,” Apple said. “Nobody can go back and replay history if he misses that shot, but all the nice things that have happened in Sandhills basketball since that shot in the last eight years are a result of our winning that national championship. There is no way we’d be where we are today if that shot hadn’t gone in.”
Learning to be a Coach
Towns, who lives in Pinebluff and works as a seafood specialist in the meat department at The Fresh Market in Southern Pines, has come a long way since attending a Pinecrest team camp when he was in the eighth grade where he became friends with Apple’s son, Will.
Already known for his ability to dunk the basketball, he played his first organized basketball as a freshman at Pinecrest. As a senior he was the conference player of the year. His previous coaching experience was with AAU basketball. His family includes his mother Regina Jefferson and three brothers.
“Daquain is learning to be a coach right now,” Apple says. “He’s got a calm low-key demeanor and I think that’s works real well with the demeanor I sometimes have out there on the floor. He’s very approachable and I think our players really appreciate that.”
Translating the Championship Credentials into More Success
Pride has several years of high school coaching experience along with a year at Pfeiffer University where he was the head junior varsity and an assistant varsity coach. Apple got to see him in action on the coaching lines when the Flyers played the Pfeiffer jayvee squad last February.
Towns sometimes plays basketball on weekends with Scott Bender who is in his fourth season as an assistant coach for the Flyers and has experienced two national tournaments. Philip Olbon is beginning his third year on the staff.
“I think it’s a great buy-in for our players because they see two guys who played here and they’re hearing the stories, and seeing the pictures on the wall,” Apple said. “We showed them the video of Daquain’s shot the other day so there is an easier buy-in factor about what we’re asking them to do. They have witnesses to it out there coaching them everyday.
“The other thing is that Coach Tramaine and Coach Daquain know what we want out of our players. It’s easier for them to explain to the players what they’re doing wrong and what they’re doing right and that’s a good thing for us.”
For his part, Towns is happy to be a part of Flyers basketball again.
“I basically just wanted to come back to help the community and help our team,” he says. “Tramaine and I both played for Coach Apple in high school so we basically have it down pat. There is a tweak here and there, but it is basically the same.
“A lot of the people that were here when I was here are still here so it is like being home. It’s still a family environment.”
https://www.sccflyers.com/sports/mbkb/2020-21/releases/20201028g0o19c
