VGCC concludes 2012-2013 basketball season
The 2012-2013 Vance-Granville Community College men’s basketball season is history, and first-year head coach Mike Rotolo feels pleased with the foundation the Vanguards laid during the past rebuilding year.
The 2-15 Vanguards played a tough schedule against high-quality opponents. Some of the VGCC squad’s defeats came at the hands of perennially strong Patrick Henry Community College; area rival Louisburg College, which has spent the entire season at or near the top of the polls in National Junior College Athletic Association Division II; Wallace State Community College-Hanceville (Alabama), which won its Division I conference championship in 2012; and nationally ranked Sandhills Community College, which won the Division III national championship in 2012. In addition, VGCC lost twice (once by one point) to Mid-Atlantic Christian University, the first four-year school the Vanguards have faced in program history. VGCC’s two victories were over Germanna Community College of Virginia and Appalachian Bible College of West Virginia.
“The competitiveness our players have shown, along with the growing level of interest in and awareness of our program, clearly indicate the return of the Vanguards,” Coach Rotolo said. “If early recruiting is a sign of things to come, I am very optimistic about the immediate future!”
New recruits will join a more experienced Vanguards team in 2013-2014, when VGCC will again play a full NJCAA Region X schedule following a 2011-2012 season that was cut short and an abbreviated schedule this year, which ended with cancellations by several late-season opponents.
The final three games of the season were two losses to Shooting for Greatness Academy (Jan. 16 and Jan. 30) and one loss to Johnston Community College (Jan. 23), all on VGCC’s home court, Aycock Recreation Center in Henderson. On Jan. 16, Justin Martin of Oxford led the Vanguards in scoring, with 23 points, while Shawn Brown of Henderson was the leader in rebounding, with 13. In the 82-76 loss to Johnston CC, Brown led in points (31) and assists (3) while Martin was the top Vanguard in rebounds (11) and steals (4). In the last game of the season, Martin made the most points (21), rebounds (15), assists (3) and steals (5). Brown contributed 18 points and 7 rebounds.
For more information, visit VGCC’s athletics web site ( vgcc.springerstudios.net/Athletics/ ).
Above: Sophomore Josh Coles (right) handles the ball in his last game as a VGCC Vanguard on Jan. 30. (VGCC photo)
