By Paul Gotham
ROCHESTER, NY – Jerry Burns has been at the helm of the Monroe Community College men’s basketball team for more than two decades. But when the Tribunes opened the 2013-14 season, Burns got a taste of something new: the Black and Gold lineup included just one player from the previous season.
Only Tashawn Desir (Brooklyn, NY/NIA School) remained from the 2012-13 Tribune squad which tied a program record for wins finishing 32-4 including a fifth-place finish in the NJCAA national tournament.
Inexperience showed its face early this season as the Tribs stumbled to a 5-4 start.
If the month of January is any indication, Burns and his Tribunes have put those early-season struggles in the rearview mirror.
The evolution of the current MCC team can be explained all in one play from a recent game.
Trailing early in a recent game against Niagara County Community College, Burns went to his bench. Niagara County was playing zone defense, and the 23-year coach had the answer. Marcus Gooding (Brooklyn, NY/Franklin Delano Roosevelt) entered the game. Monroe had the ball out-of-bounds under the Niagara basket. Gooding took the inbound pass, squared and drilled a 3-pointer. On the next possession, Gooding nailed another trey. The sophomore guard sparked a decisive 20-3 run, and MCC went on to an 87-76 win.
“In the beginning of the year, he wouldn’t have seen that pass,” Burns said. “He would’ve been standing there wide open, and we would have taken a more difficult shot. Now with practice, he comes into the game, he knows his role, and everybody else knows his role. That’s a huge difference compared to the team we had in the beginning of the year to the team that we have now.”
It’s as simple or complicated as players learning roles.
To a man, the Tribunes have grown into their roles, and Monroe has rattled off 11 straight wins including a 7-0 mark in Western New York Athletic Conference action and look poised to host the upcoming regional tournament.
“Maturity brings a lot of different things,” Burns added. “We talk about just getting stops on the defensive end. We talked about good offensive possession. That’s maturity. We talk about just communicating. Those three things because of the maturity factor have increased our play to where it’s at right now.”
Injuries depleted the Tribunes last year. Burns was forced to go with a seven or eight man rotation with players like Kenny Johnson (Philadelphia, Pa) and Dallas Gary (Buffalo, NY) missing significant parts of the season.
This year, nine current Tribunes average double-digit minutes with several others having played 10 or more in at least one game.
“That’s what we can do,” Burns continued. “We’re really fortunate. Occasionally one or two guys will get left out of the mix. Because we have ten guys, I am afforded the luxury.”
No one player represents this more than Gooding who is Monroe’s resident zone-buster. The 5-10 guard waits for opponents to go zone.
“Breaking people down? That’s not his role. When he’s open, shoot it. That’s all we want him to do, especially when he sees zone. Our guys know that.”
The roles don’t stop there.
Like any Burns team, success starts on the defensive end. Burns credits the play of TJ Davis (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) and Anthony Hemingway (Brooklyn, NY/NIA School). The two have become defensive stoppers usually garnering the task of neutralizing the opposing team’s best scorer.
“Against Genesee they had two very good players. There are only two guys who can cover them on our team. One of them gets in foul trouble, you have that other body there.”
Davis, a 6-2 spring-loaded guard, averages more than 18 minutes a game and easily defends players who have a height advantage.
“He is playing that amount of minutes because of all the other things, like sprinting back, and just deflecting the ball,” Burns said of Davis. “He does all those things that I really love. To me he is the biggest impact that we have had in the second part of the year.”
Hemingway also logs 18-plus minutes per contest. The 6-3 guard does a little bit of everything averaging seven points, three rebounds and 2.3 assists per outing.
“The thing I like about him, and I wish he would understand it, is I foresee him as one of the top players in our Region. When he plays the way he can play, he is.”
The defense is leading to good offense with the Tribunes hitting 45 percent or better from the floor in the three of their last five games and a scorching 12-of-23 behind the arc versus Genesee Community College.
The Black and Gold have struck a balance. Gooding along with Desir, Artice Jackson (Owings Mills, MD/Milford Mill Academy) and Manny Joseph (Brooklyn, NY/Midwood) stretch opposing defenses. Elijah Tillman (Garnerville, NY/North Rockland) and Davon Jackson (Odenton, MD/Old Mill) shrink them. Monroe’s front court has found open space in the paint and taken advantage.
Davon Jackson scores 5.6 a game and grabs nearly four rebounds.
Tillman had a coming out party against Jamestown Community College with a team and career-high 15 points.
“With Elijah down on the block there, he creates so much havoc because you have to double down on him and that’s what they (opponents) are doing.”
Desir, the lone veteran, nets 11 a game and dishes out 4.2 assists. But Burns knows his contributions extend well beyond the numbers. The sophomore guard carries a GPA well above a 3.0 and was recently nominated for the school’s Chancellor’s Award.
“There are two aspects to Tay that I think are important. One is on the floor because playing for us last year he has the games under his belt, the experience of how to handle difficult situations, how to defend and what we’re looking for on the offensive end. He also understands what it takes to be an MCC basketball player. He represents everything that our basketball program is about. He brings all that positive stuff to our program.”
Monroe hosts Mercyhurst NE on Saturday. The contest is part of the Coaches vs. Cancer doubleheader with Tribune women playing at 1 p.m. The men are slated to tip at 3 p.m. on George Monagan Court.
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