By Paul Casey Gotham
ROCHESTER, NY — The MCC Tribunes left no doubt.
Algeron Torrance (Syracuse, NY/ Corcoran) led three in double figures as the the Tribs used a full court press to eliminate the Jamestown Community College Jayhawks, 74-56 in first-round play of Region III Division II action on George Monagan Court Tuesday night.
Torrance scored six early in the second as the Tribs took a 15-point lead and never looked back.
The 6’6″ forward hit a turnaround jumper in the lane to start a 9-0 run. Isaiah Jefferson (Buffalo, NY/Buffalo East) grabbed a defensive rebound on the other end of the floor and busted it up the court before shoveling a drop pass to Andre Armstrong (Queens, NY/Notre Dame Prep) for a three. Arnold Fripp Jr. (Brooklyn, NY/Brooklyn Collegiate) took an inbound pass on the next possession and hit a turnaround hook outside the lane. Jahvari Josiah (Brooklyn, NY/ Beach Channel) put an exclamation point on the spurt with a steal and dunk in the open floor.
By the time JCC took a timeout, the Tribs had a 47-32 lead they would never surrender.
“They only have one really quick guard that can handle pressure,” noted Tribune head coach, Jerry Burns. “We just wanted to get the ball out of his hands immediately. We made some of the other guys handle it.”
The Black and Gold stretched the lead to 18 when the press created another turnover, and Armstrong found the measure again from long range. The Tribs led 62-44.
“We were up seven at half,” Burns explained. “I thought if we continued to press them, we would get what we want.”
Fripp, Jr. finished one rebound short of a double-double. The freshman forward capitalized twice on baseline out-of-bounds plays.
“We put a new play in,” Burns noted. “It was a different look for them. We usually run the four guys on the outside. This was a straight line where we flash a guy down the middle.”
Fripp Jr. scored 15 on 6-of-8 shooting to go with nine rebounds.
“He’s really starting to come on,” Burns commented. “He’s starting to play some defense. The more he defends. The more he’ll play.”
Jefferson finished with nine points, four assists, and five rebounds. He was the passer on the inbound plays that worked so well for the Tribs.
“He played really well tonight,” Burns said of the freshmen. “I thought he was the catalyst.”
Monroe used a pair of six-point runs to grab a ten-point lead early in the first half.
Eddie Callender (Philadelphia, PA/Lankenau) and Jefferson both connected twice from the free throw line on consecutive possessions. The duo combined on an inbound pass with Callender scoring at the rim, and MCC led 8-4.
Callender rebounded his own miss on the break and finished with a putback. Monroe’s press created a turnover, and Jefferson took advantage with a layup. Torrance hit a jumper outside the lane for a 16-6 advantage.
Torrance finished with 18 on 9-of-12 shooting.
“He did a good job scoring,” Burns remarked. “He’s got a nice touch.”
Armstrong added 10. Josiah dished out five assists. Monroe’s defense created 27 turnovers.
C.J. Reid (Brooklyn, NY) kept the Jayhawks close in the first half. The 6’4″ forward hit a long three to close the gap at 23-20. Reid scored 10 before the break. Calvin Sterling (Brooklyn, NY) led the Jayhawks with 17. The 5’9″ guard connected on three straight pull-up threes to keep JCC within sniffing distance.
The Tribunes will travel to Buffalo on Saturday to do battle with Erie Community College.
Leave a Reply