By Paul Gotham
BUFFALO, NY – Something had to give Saturday afternoon. A pair of conference titans faced off.
The Monroe Community College men’s basketball team gave.
A late first-half run proved the difference as the Erie Community College Kats (17-3/8-0) defeated the Monroe Community College Tribunes (20-3/7-1), 92-71 in WNYAC action at the Flickinger Athletic Center.
After eight ties and seven lead changes the Kats took their largest of the first twenty into the break and never looked back.
Aubrey Ball (Carrollton, Texas/Creek View) sparked a 10-1 to close the half for a 42-33 ECC lead.
Ball knocked down a jumper to start the spurt. The sophomore guard led Rayshawn Sumlin (Cleveland, OH/Martin Luther King) for a slam and a 36-32 advantage. Devon Elliott (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Loughlin) and Emanuel Hutcherson (Milton, MA/Milton) connected on a pair of free throws each before Kareem Sulaiman (Bronx, NY/Bethel) closed the stanza with a rebound and putback.
Monroe grabbed an early lead. Ta-Quan Zimmerman (Waterbury, CT/Holy Cross) opened the scoring with a runner off the window. After a free throw, Monroe had the early edge.
“I thought we played hard,” Monroe head coach Jerry Burns said. “But we did not play smart. There were so many times when it was three on one or three against two. We had numbers, and we just made a poor decision.”
Tashawn Desir (Brooklyn, NY/Nia Prep) hit a pull-up jumper for a 5-2 Tribune edge. Kenny Johnson (Philadelphia, PA/Abington Friends) led Arnold Fripp, Jr. (Brooklyn, NY/Brooklyn Collegiate) in the paint for a deuce. Desir finished a layup, and Greg Williams (Cincinnati, OH/Princeton) scored on a rebound and putback. Desir’s two charity tosses made it 13-9 Monroe.
It proved to be Monroe’s largest lead of the afternoon.
Sumlin had a tip in and a traditional three-point as Erie took 20-15 advantage.
Malcolm McNair (Jacksonville, FL/Samuel L. Wolfson) and Ed Hector (Atlanta, GA/Creekside) responded with a three and a putback to tie the score.
Johnson led Fripp, Jr. on the break for a layup and a 22-20 MCC lead.
“We missed easy shots,” Burns continued. “We didn’t finish. It was just poor decisions.”
Keron Briggs (Buffalo, NY/Sweet Home) scored five, and Sulaiman capped a 7-0 second half run as the Kats took their largest lead of the game, 69-51.
“You throw a bad pass. You take a bad shot; they’re gone,” Burns added. “You’re going to lose a game like that.”
Desir led the Tribs with 22 points on seven-of-10 shooting from the field including two-of-four behind the arc.
McNair followed with 20 points. McNair hit five-of-ten behind the arc.
Fripp, Jr. added with 14 with a team-high eight rebounds.
Zimmerman chipped in 11.
Johnson led the Black and Gold with five assists.
Briggs led all scorers with 25. Sumlin added 19 with a game-high 16 rebounds for the Kats.
Erie’s last loss came on November 16th, 73-71 to Monroe at Lakeland, Ohio. The Kats have won 15 straight.
Erie outrebounded Monroe 67-37. Thirty-one of those boards came on the offensive glass. Erie had 28 second-chance points to Monroe’s 14.
Monroe committed 24 turnovers. Erie had 33 miscues.
Erie outscored Monroe in the paint, 42-28.
The Kats were 26-of-33 from the free throw line. The Tribs went 17-of-28 from the stripe.
Monroe hosts Niagara County Community College, Thursday night. A 7:30 tip-off is scheduled on George Monagan Court.
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