Alpena, MichiganLocal Weather Alerts
There are currently no active weather alerts.

ACC men’s basketball returns to the hardwood

ALPENA, Mich. — At this time, Alpena Community College sports are back in action. Monday, Sarah Parsons and the Lumberjacks volleyball team returned to the court for the first time since Oct. 2019. For Mark Jacobs and his men’s basketball team, Tuesday was their first time practicing on the hardwood for nearly 60 days. For the first day, the Lumberjacks hit the ground running by doing strength and conditioning.

“It’s a great feeling to be back,” said Jacobs. “The goal is to stay healthy. Three schools in the MCAAA conference have canceled their seasons. We just have to stay healthy and take it one day at a time.”

Heading into this season, Jacobs is looking for a better outcome than last season, finishing with a 2-24 overall record. “Last year, we didn’t have a lot of ball handlers, said Jacobs. This year, we brought a lot of ball handlers to the squad. Overall, I really think we’re a decent team.”

Leading the charge for the Lumberjacks is Chris DeRocher. Last year, the Alpena native averaged 12.9 PPG, while shooting 37.8% from the floor. The sophomore believes that this squad needs to get off to a better start in each game in order to be successful.

“In a lot of the games we played last year, we got down way too far in the first half,” said DeRocher. “We were either beating teams in the second half or we were right with them. We have to focus on having stronger first half’s and not getting so far behind.”

At this time, the Lumberjacks will tip off their season on Feb. 3 at Bay College.