By Paul Gotham
SANBORN, NY – Arnold Fripp, Jr. (Brooklyn, NY/Brooklyn Collegiate) and Jonathan Velez-Rivera (Bayamon, PR/Seneca Valley) paced an inside-outside attack as the Monroe Community College Tribunes (26-3/13-1) registered a 77-66 come-from-behind road victory over the Niagara County Community College Thunderwolves (20-8/11-3) in WNYAC action Saturday.
Fripp tallied a dozen points in the second half as Monroe erased a 13-point deficit.
“He can just do so many things,” Monroe head coach Jerry Burns said of his sophomore forward. “He is such a difficult match-up because of his size. If you put a smaller guy on him, he can take it to the block. Or if they had the big kid on him, Fripp was able to stay away from him.”
Coming out of a timeout down 11, Fripp hit a turnaround jumper on the baseline. He followed with a pair of free throws. On the defensive end, the 6-7 forward stepped in a passing lane for a steal and led Jahvari Josiah (Brooklyn, NY/Beach Channel) into the open floor for a dunk and a Niagara County timeout.
“Coach told me to ‘drop to the post and they would feed me,'” Fripp commented. “He told me ‘to go to work.'”
Fripp cut the Niagara County lead to one when he used an upfake at the free throw line and went one dribble with his left to set up a scoop shoot.
Velez-Rivera followed with a steal to lead Greg Williams (Cincinnati, OH/Princeton) in a two-on-one situation for a layup and Monroe’s first lead since the opening basket of the game at 52-51 with 8:06 remaining in the game.
“We got down, and it was the defensive effort,” Burns said when explaining how the Tribs got back into the game. “It was gut check time.”
After trading baskets for the next two minutes, the Black and Gold took the lead for good when Josiah corralled an offensive rebound in traffic, used an upfake and finished at the rim for a 57-56 edge with 4:32 left on the clock.
Tashawn Desir (Brooklyn, NY/Nia Prep) converted a pair of free throws before Fripp hit a free throw line jumper for a 61-58 lead.
The Tribunes added to the lead.
Malcolm McNair (Jacksonville, FL/Samuel L. Wolfson) grabbed a loose ball and scored. Desir sliced through the lane for a basket, and Williams hit a pull-up jumper with the shot clock winding down from just outside the lane for a 67-60 Tribune lead with 1:40 remaining.
“I didn’t know what the shot clock was at,” Williams explained. “I just caught it and dribbled. I had nowhere to pass, so just let me shoot.”
From there the Black and Gold sealed the victory with nine straight free throws.
“Free throws have haunted us recently,” Burns noted. “But that was a huge difference in this game. Up here, against a team like this, you go to the free throw line and miss five or six in the second half, they come down and bang a three, it’s a lot different.”
Monroe dug an early hole as the Thunderwolves scored 13 straight for an 11-point advantage.
E.J. Sandoval (Brooklyn, NY/Franklin Delano Roosevelt) scored four to pace the Thunderwolves from the tip. The 6-7 forward hit a baseline jumper. Isaiah Johnson (Brooklyn, NY/Brooklyn Collegiate) followed with a rebound and putback. Jacob Hughes (Sanborn, NY/Niagara-Wheatfield) nailed a three. Sandoval converted his own rebound and putback. By the time Jordan Street (Niagara Falls, NY/Niagara Falls) scored on a layup, the Thunderwolves led 13-2.
Velez-Rivera came off the bench and immediately jump-started the Monroe offense. The 6-4 forward hit a trey in transition when Williams found him open on the right wing. Velez-Rivera followed with another 3-ball from the right corner. His third of four treys in the half cut the NCCC lead to single digits.
“We know Jon can hit a lot of threes,” Fripp said. “Once he starts heating up, they are going to send two or three defenders at him.”
Velez-Rivera hit for the fourth time from long range in a 9-0 MCC run late in the half.
“Their zone was shifting so much to find him,” Burns explained. “It has to extend so much because of him knocking it down.”
Fripp connected from the free throw line and McNair had a steal and bucket cutting the lead to 34-31.
Victor Verdecia (New Jersey/Perth Amboy) hit a pull-up three before the buzzer to send the teams into the locker room at 37-31.
Niagara opened the second stanza on a 9-2 run before the Tribs righted the ship.
With the win, Monroe earns the top seed in next week’s Region III tournament and the right to host the final rounds.
“We had to get this win to host the tournament,” Williams commented. “That’s the main goal to be number one in the conference. We got it done.”
Velez-Rivera led the Tribs with 15 going five-of-11 behind the arc.
Fripp added 14 with McNair getting 12 while Josiah and Williams chipped in 10 apiece.
Desir led the Tribunes with six assists.
Johnson had a game-high 17 for Niagara. Sandoval scored 13 with a game-high eight rebounds.
Jon Marsh (Bronx, NY/Impact Academy) scored 30 when the teams met on February seventh at George Monagan Court in Rochester, New York. Saturday, the 6-1 guard was limited to seven points on just two-of-12 shooting from the floor.
“Malcolm McNair was the kid who got it done,” Burns explained. “Malcolm’s job, when we talked about it in practice, was one thing and one thing only: do not let that kid get off. Everywhere that kid was, Malcolm was there. That kid was getting a little frustrated. He was all over him.”
Josiah, Velez-Rivera and Williams led a Monroe bench which outscored Niagara’s 35-8.
Monroe limited Niagara to 29 points in the second half on 10-of-29 shooting including one-of-nine from the three-point arc.
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