Columbia, MD – On December 10, 2022, the last men’s and women’s basketball games would be played in HCC’s Athletic & Fitness Center against the Beaver County Titans. Both the men’s and women’s teams would claim wins, and the Dragon basketball teams would not have a home game again for nearly two years. After much anticipation, The Kahlert Foundation Complex opened on November 1, 2024, for the men’s and women’s basketball teams to take on Baltimore City Community College, and each HCC Basketball team would claim home wins for the first time in 692 days.

Women’s Game – Howard Community College 65, Baltimore City Community College 47

To start the historic evening, the women’s basketball team defeated the BCCC Panthers by a score of 65 to 47, utilizing strong defense to record over 30 steals and over 50 rebounds.

The game opened with HCC winning the tip-off, and freshman Hannah Chambers scoring the first point of not only the game, but the first ever point scored in the Kahlert Foundation Complex. The Dragons would not trail at any point in the game. HCC would continue to apply pressure to open the game, taking a 10-0 lead while recording four steals in the opening four and a half minutes of the game. However, BCCC would not let the game get out of hand so quickly, and would capitalize on HCC committing 6 first quarter fouls to finish the quarter tied at 13.

The second quarter was highlighted by strong defense, with the Dragons only allowing 7 points. The Dragons would open the quarter scoring with two layups to make the score 17-13 just over a minute in. BCCC would respond with a free throw before HCC scored nine straight to assert a 26-14 lead with 4:55 left in the quarter. The quarter would be nearly even after the run, with the halftime score being 30-20.

The third quarter would be more of the same for the Dragons. Kayden Jeselskis scored a free throw, the first of six straight points to open the half. The Dragons would have four steals and two blocks as they prevented BCCC from scoring for nearly the first five minutes of the quarter. After a few minutes of even scoring, the Dragons would score 10 straight points in the final three minutes, six of which came from fast breaks, to make the score 48-27.

With the game mostly secured, the Dragons maintained a strong lead throughout the fourth quarter keeping the Panthers at bay to win the first ever competition in the Kahlert Foundation Complex in front of an electric home crowd.

As strong of a win as this was, the Dragons are ready to continue improving; when asked what they feel they can learn from this game, Head Coach Barnes said “there are some things we have to clean up, we want to get better defensively. Cutting down on some turnovers, and rebounding the ball better, and making more free throws — if we can do those things moving forward, I like the direction we can trend in.”

When asked to shoutout a few players, Coach Barnes said that she felt everyone played well, but specifically mentioned three players:

• Assani Offer: “she played hard…she’s a menace on defense and on the glass,” Offer lead the team in defensive rebounds and steals
• Zakiyaa Brown: “shot the ball well and played pretty well defensively,”
• Nicole Forbes: “she’s coming back off an ACL injury, this is her first time getting to play in a long time so that was exciting and the whole team was really happy for her and to support her”

The Dragons will be back in action at noon on November 9, when they take on Essex County College at home.

Men’s Game – Howard Community College 70, Baltimore City Community College 54

To finish the night, the men’s basketball team fed off an electric crowd to win their game against BCCC 70 to 54. The Dragons outclassed the Panthers in nearly every major statistical category en route to winning the first ever men’s basketball game in the Kahlert Foundation Complex.

HCC would come out to an early 6-2 lead off of a pair of three-pointers from sophomore point guard Arthur Roaché and freshman guard Myles McDuffie. However, the Panthers were sure to not let the game get out of hand and would take a 15-9 lead five minutes into the game. Sophomore guard Christian Dean would put the momentum back into the Dragons’ favor, recording a steal, and layup for the first of 10 straight points that sent the home crowd into hysterics and made the score 19-15 in favor of the Dragons. The remainder of the half would be even between the two teams, with the Dragons never falling behind, finishing with a score of 34-30.

The second half would start with the even fight continuing between the teams, as BCCC would bring the game within one point 3 times in the first four minutes of the half. Nearly halfway through, scoring from Arthur Roaché and Christian Dean would kick off a nine-point run that would give the Dragons an 11-point lead. The Panthers would attempt to close the gap, cutting the lead to 7 points 11-minutes into the half, before the Dragons would gain a double-digit lead that would be maintained for the remainder of the game. Strong defense would hold BCCC to just 24 second-half points, and Emmanuel Henrique put the exclamation mark on the historic night by scoring a dunk with 30 seconds left to put the Dragons up 70-54.

The reigning Division II Region 20 champions are excited about the win in front of the home crowd, but don’t want to get too ahead of themselves. Head men’s basketball coach and HCC Athletic Director Mike Smelkinson said after the game, “we’re just going one day at a time, and I just told them, let’s build off this. It was a great team win held them to 24 second half points, we’re still trying to find our identity — we just want to build off this and get better each day.”

When asked to shoutout a player, Coach Smelkinson mentioned starting sophomore point guard Jaden Johnson, saying, “he controlled the pace of the game, he followed the game plan […] he led us in minutes, he played unselfish basketball to help us win the game […] 0 turnovers in 33 minutes, 4 assists, that’s tremendous.”

The Dragons will play again at 2 p.m. on November 9, to take on Essex County College at home.

The Kahlert Foundation Complex

Named after The Kahlert Foundation, which provided a 2-million-dollar gift to the college – the largest private donation the college had ever received – The Kahlert Foundation Complex will serve as the new home for both HCC athletics and HCC mathematics. The 193,000 square foot, $101.7 million facility broke ground in June 2021, and is built on the site of the original Athletic & Fitness Center which was built in 1969 and demolished to make way for the new facility. For the academic side, the facility features a math learning center, class labs, a study lounge, maker space, and a research area. On the athletic side, the facility features a multipurpose gym, team locker rooms, athletic classrooms, a fitness center, a strength and conditioning room, and of course, a competition gymnasium.

The new facility is a huge addition for athletics at HCC, not only for an individual’s athletic career but their academic career as well. Head women’s basketball coach Eryn Barnes made sure to mention that easy access to athlete study hall classrooms and tutoring for athletes will help athletes be more excited and motivated to make accomplishments in their academic’s. The new facility will also be a great resource for teams and athletes to have access to strength and conditioning rooms, and for even outdoor teams to have the flexibility to practice inside and maximize their training. Lastly, the facility will help with recruiting athletes and help change the negative connotation that community colleges have and reshape the idea of what a community college looks like.

For the basketball teams specifically, the building should bring a good homecourt advantage that has been missing for the past two years while the facility was under construction. When asked what the facility means for the team, head men’s basketball coach Mike Smelkinson said, “In the old building in our last 40 games, we were 39 and 1, we’re hoping to have similar success in this new building. I think Howard is a difficult place to play. We get support from our other student athletes, not only does it mean a lot to the team, but it means a lot to the community.”