Dayton, OH – Sinclair (14-3/1-0) Men’s Basketball opened up conference play Saturday with an 82-66 road win at Owens CC in Toledo, OH.

Sinclair took control of the first half after Owens jumped out to an early lead.  Playing strong defense, Sinclair held the Express to only 35% shooting in the first half to take a 38-25 advantage into halftime.

The lead didn’t last long as Owens came out of halftime with their defensive adjustment and some key three point shots to tie the game.  From that point on, Sinclair was able to push the lead back up a double digit margin as the Pride rotated 11 players in and out of the game.  With a host of fresh players, the Pride out rebounded Owens 47-30 as well as getting 50 points off the bench.

The Pride had all 11 players that played score with 10 of the 11 playing double figure minutes.  Leading scorer for the game was Sinclair’s Darrien Wilkins (6-5/Cincinnati Princeton H.S.) with his 6th double – double of the year, 21 points and 16 rebounds.

Great bench play has been one of the staples of this year’s Pride team and Saturday was no different.  Three players from the bench joined Darrien with double figure scoring; Jonathan Bibbs (6-4/Dayton Chaminade Julienne H.S.) 16 points and 5 rebounds, Blake Davenport (6-0/Lebanon H.S.) 13 points and Drake Coleman (5-11/Jeffersonville (IN) H.S.) with 12 points going 8-8 from the free throw line.

The Sinclair will continue conference play this Saturday as the Pride travel to Columbus State for a 3pm match up.