By Vincent Meloni
ROCHESTER, NY — The Rochester Razorsharks started off the 2012 PBL season by celebrating their 2011 PBL Championship and giving the fans a 107-98 win over the new expansion Scranton-Wilkes Barre Steamers in front of 6, 017 fans at the Blue Cross Arena. The teams went back and forth the entire game until Rochester slowly pulled away in the fourth by playing smart and hustling.
Jerice Crouch lead the fourth quarter surge, as he drove straight down an open late with about four minutes to go, made the layup, got the foul, and sank the free throw for the three point play. With a minute left in the game, he took a steal down the baseline and finished with an emphatic slam dunk to excite the crowd for the win. Crouch led the Razorsharks with 21 points, four assists, and two steals.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre started the game off well and took a 15-9 lead, but just before the first media timeout, Tasheed Carr found himself all alone on a fast break and threw down the slam dunk after a lead pass from a long rebound from Crouch, bringing the crowd to life for the first time.
The second quarter started real well for the visitors, as Scranton/Wilkes-Barre went on a 16-2 run, including 11 points from Chris Commons, who finished with a game high 34 points. Rochester took a two point lead into the half, as Crouch stole the ball, passed to Keith Friel who missed the deep two, but Todd McCoy had just enough time to put the rebound in for the score.
Both teams continued to go back and forth in the third quarter, as Rochester expanded its lead to nine with the score of 80-71 before finishing up the game with the nine point win. Other standouts for Rochester were McCoy with 15 points off the bench and Aaron Williams, also off the bench, with 13 points and nine rebounds. All 12 Razorsharks saw at least 12 minutes of game time and 11 of them scored.
Steamers Rob Robinson and Vincent Simpson finished with 26 and 20 points, respectively, and Darrion Griffin finished with 9 points and 10 rebounds.
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