Olive-Harvey College 11/19/24

The Bulldogs fell to #10 in the recent national rankings. SSC’s final game of their first road trip of the season (three games) ended with Olive-Harvey. The Bulldogs were victorious, winning 94-75. It was the third straight win for the Bulldogs. The game started with Olive-Harvey taking an early 22-17 lead with 9:30 to go in the first half. They continued to lead 34-31 with 4:20 left to go. SSC went on a 10-3 run to end the half and entered halftime with a 41-37 lead. The Bulldogs gained their biggest lead at 83-58 with 6:30 to go and never looked back.

South Suburban had three freshmen guards score 20+ points. Tyler Wooten scored a career high 25 points while grabbing 9 rebounds. AJ Abrams recorded his second double-double of the season (23 points and 11 rebounds). Samar Bures scored 20 points while dishing out 5 assists and snatching 3 steals. The only other double-digit scorer for the Bulldogs was sophomore forward Kuba Senczyszyn who scored 10 points while grabbing 5 rebounds. SSC won the rebounding battle 36-23. South Suburban shot 34-57 (59.6%) from the field, only 1-9 (11.1%) from behind the “3”-point line, and 25-30 (83.3%) from the free throw line. Olive-Harvey shot 26-54 (48.1%) from the field, 5/14 (35.7%) from the “3”, and 18-40 (45%) from the free throw line. SSC improved to 4-1 on the season.

Spoon River College 11/16/24

The #9 Bulldogs continued their early season road trip to a place that has not been nice to them in the past. Coach John Pigatti’s teams have never won at Spoon River College. That changed on November 16 as they were victorious 85-66. SSC trailed 13-12 with 10:45 left to go in the first half. They proceeded to go on a 16-1 run and take a 28-14 lead with 5:20 to go. They led 40-31 at halftime. Spoon River went on a 12-3 run to tie the game at 43 with 16:00 to go in the second half. In the next two minutes, SSC out scored Spoon River 13-2 to take a 56-45 lead. SSC got their biggest lead of the game at 79-60 with 2:30 to go in the game and never looked back.

South Suburban had a balanced scoring attack, as 5 players scored in double figures. Freshman Samar Bures led the team in scoring with 16 points while snatching a career high 7 steals. He also dished out 3 assists. Freshman guard Tyler Wooten scored 13 points while grabbing 4 rebounds. Sophomore guard Taurean Mickens scored 12 points and dished out 4 assists. Sophomore forward Kuba Senczyszyn recorded his first double double as he scored 11 points while grabbing 10 rebounds. Freshman guard AJ Abrams scored 10 points while grabbing 8 rebounds. SSC won the rebounding battle 42-27. South Suburban shot 33/62 (53.2%) from the field, 3/12 (25%) from behind the “3” point line, and 16/21 (76.2%) from the free throw line. Spoon River shot 19/54 (35.2%) from the field, 5/25 (20%) from the “3”, and 23/34 (67.6%) from the free throw line. SSC improved to 3-1 on the season.

McHenry County College 11/12/24

The Bulldogs dropped to #9 in the latest NJCAA Division II rankings, and they headed out for their first road game of the season. They were victorious at McHenry County College 98-60. The game started out slow with McHenry taking an early 5-2 lead. The game stayed tight as SSC held a 29-27 lead with 6:00 to go in the first half. The Bulldogs closed out the first half on a 12-1 run and took a 41-28 lead into the halftime break. SSC took their biggest lead of the game at 86-44 with 8:00 to go in the game and cruised to the 38-point victory.

South Suburban had a lot of stat fillers for this game. They were led in scoring by freshman guard Tyler Wooten’s career high 29 points, and career high 9 rebounds. Freshman guard Samar Bures scored 20 points while grabbing 8 rebounds, dishing out 6 assists and snatching 2 steals. Freshman guard AJ Abrams scored 16 points, grabbed 9 rebounds, dished out 8 assists and snatched 3 steals of his own for the Bulldogs. Sophomores Kuba Senczyszyn (10), Taurean Mickens (8), and Pape Ndiaye (7) recorded personal highs in rebounding for SSC. South Suburban shot 40/77 (51.9%) from the field, 7/20 (35%) from behind the “3”-point line, and 11/19 (57.9%) from the free throw line. McHenry County College statistics were not available at the time of this release. South Suburban improved to 2-1 on the season.

Southwestern Michigan College 11/9/24

The #2 Bulldogs had their 65-game home winning streak snapped with a 66-61 defeat to Southwestern Michigan College. Head Coach John Pigatti’s home record falls to 289-16 over the 19 seasons he has been at SSC. The game started tightly as it was tied at 13 with 10:00 to go in the first half. SSC went on a 12-0 run and took a 25-13 lead with 4:00 left in the half. SSC led 30-16 with 2:30 to go and Southwestern went on an 8-0 run to end the first half. The Bulldogs only led 30-26 at halftime. SSC built the lead to 11 in the second half at 44-33 with 14:00 to go in the game. Southwestern chipped away at the victory and took a 62-61 lead with 1:00 left. The Bulldogs only scored 2 points in the last 6:00 of the game.

SSC was led in scoring by two freshmen: Samar Bures and Tyler Wooten who scored 16 points a piece. The only other double-digit scorer was sophomore guard Taurean Mickes, who chipped in 12 points for the Bulldogs. SSC faced defeat due to excessive fouling. They were whistled for 27 fouls while Southwestern only had 11. SSC scored 8 more baskets and 5 more “3”-point shots than Southwestern. SSC shot 24/60 (40%) from the field, 7/25 (25%) from the “3”, and only 6/13 (46.2%) from the free throw line. Southwestern shot 16/48 (33.3%) from the field, 2/19 (10.5%) from the “3”, but were 32/40 (80%) from the free throw line. Southwestern won the rebounding battle 41/30. The Bulldogs fell to 1-1 on the season.

Calumet College of St. Joseph 11/5/24

The #2 ranked Bulldogs opened their 2024-25 season with a 93-65 victory over the Calumet College of St. Joseph (CCSJ) JV team. The victory was SSC’s 65th straight home win. The game started with CCJS taking an early 7-6 lead. SSC went on a 22-3 run and built their lead to 28-10 with 10:00 to go in the first half. They led 47-27 at half time. CCSJ closed the gap to 56-41 with 15:00 left to go in the game. SSC went on a 33-16 run to take their biggest lead of the game at 87-55 with 4:00 left to go. They utilized their bench players for the final 28-point victory.

SSC was led in scoring by freshman guard Samar Bures’ 27 points. He also dished out 4 assists and snatched 3 steals. Freshman guard AJ Abrams recorded his first career double/double as he scored 24 points while grabbing 15 rebounds. Abrams also dished out 6 assists and snatched 5 steals. The only other double-digit scorer for the Bulldogs was freshman forward Tyler Wooten who scored 18 points. SSC shot 41/63 (65.1%) from the field, while shooting only 1/9 (11.1%) from behind the “3”-point line. They also shot 10/16 (62.5%) from the free throw line. CCSJ shot 20/41 (48.8%) from the field, 3/14 (21.4%) from the “3”, and 22/27 (81.5%) from the free throw line. SSC won the rebounding battle 43-30. The Bulldogs are 1-0 on the season.