Season Review: Men's Basketball Returns to the Playoffs
Signature Win: The Phantoms earned a hard-fought 81-77 victory over host Salem County Community College on February 6th. The contest went back-and-forth until the final two minutes of the game. Coach Larry Yarbray Sr. reflected, "Shawn Mendez was in foul trouble in the first half and played about five minutes, therefore everyone had to step up and play together. We went into the half only down a couple of points, then we made a run in the second half with our full-court press to help us close out the game." Joshua Grant and Mendez led the way for the visitors with 20 and 19, respectively, while Mike Mallon chipped in with 17 to aid the cause. Mendez also pulled down a game-high 17 rebounds. The win was one of five victories in the Phantoms' last six regular-season contests which helped Delaware County Community College return to the region playoffs for the first time in three years.
Season Notes: Yarbray Sr. believes the 2019-20 season was a success. "We made tremendous strides in building the program," offered the third-year coach ... Mendez proved to be an indispensable presence in the middle throughout the regular season for the Phantoms as he led the team in overall shooting percentage (51.1), rebounds per game (15.4), and blocks per game (1.6). Surpassing 400 points in his first year of collegiate action, Mendez averaged 17.4 points, which included a season-high outburst of 28 points in a 97-72 victory over Harcum College's junior varsity squad in late January. Mendez was a model of consistency as he authored seven 20-plus rebounding efforts and 12 multi-block performances on his way to ranking among the national Division-III leaders in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) in rebounds per game (second), offensive rebounds (third, 164), total rebounds (third, 354), and total blocks (25th, 37) ... Mallon made his final season in a Phantoms uniform a memorable one as he topped the EPAC with a scoring average of 19.5 points per game. Starting all 23 regular-season games, Mallon eclipsed the 20-point mark in 12 of the contests including a season-high 31 points in an early-season 97-92 victory over Luzerne Community College where he shot a scintillating 6-for-10 from behind the arc. The Penncrest High School graduate, who connected at a team-high 38.2 percent from distance, went on to match that six three-pointer achievement in a 96-90 win over Delaware Technical Community College in the final home game of his career. Mallon's 73 total three-pointers on the season ranked him among the national leaders (tied for 18th). Not just a scorer, Mallon filled the stat sheet on a consistent basis as he tied for second on the squad in steals (2.3 per game) and assists (1.7 per game), and chipped in with 4.6 rebounds per contest. Mallon's 449 total points on the season surpassed the 316 points he scored as a first-year player when he averaged 13.2 points per game and registered career-highs of eight three-pointers and 32 points in a victory over Lehigh Carbon Community College in February of 2019 ... Joshua Grant finished 18th nationally in assists with The 11th-seeded Phantoms returned to the region playoffs for the first time in three years with a contest against sixth seed Middlesex County on Feb. 22 ... The Phantoms finished 13-11 overall on the campaign and ranked ninth nationally in offensive rebounds per game (16.3) and 11th in steals per game (11.0).
Honors:
2019-20 Division III NJCAA All-Region XIX Third Team - Shawn Mendez
2019-20 Men's Basketball EPAC All-Conference: Shawn Mendez (First Team), Mike Mallon (Second Team)
Fall 2019 Dean's List - Joshua Grant, Prince Griffon, Mike Mallon, Shawn Mendez, Steven Willis
Looking Ahead: "We just want to continue to build the program and compete for the league championship," Yarbray Sr. offered as he looks forward to his fourth year on the sidelines.