By Paul Gotham
ROCHESTER, NY – Tournament MVP Jayquan Ashley (Brooklyn, NY) notched his second double-double in as many days, and Anthony Hemingway (Brooklyn, NY) led all scorers as the No. 13 Monroe Community College Tribunes downed the No. 6 Cincinnati State Surge, 80-75 in the finals of the 2014 Pete Pavia Memorial Tournament.
The duo combined for 34 points as Monroe knocked off the Surge for the second time in 14 days.
“It was definitely good to get this experience early against a top-ranked team,” Hemingway said of Cincinnati State. “We get to prepare against some top competition. They came out here and played hard. Definitely a good program. We just did what we had to do two games in a row.”
MCC held the Surge 13 points under their season average of 87.5 points a game.
“It is a good win, like yesterday was a good win,” Monroe head coach Jerry Burns said. “We did a good enough job to get the W.”
Cincinnati State came into the game averaging 12. 6 steals a game, good for seventh in the nation. Against Monroe, the Surge managed just six steals as the Tribunes limited their opponent’s opportunities for easy buckets.
“The one thing we talked about in playing against them, and it goes back to when we beat them out there, was just not turning the ball over,” Burns continued. “When they come to trap us, we wanted to exploit it and get the easiest shot. If it’s a layup, we’ll take the layup. If it’s a three, we’ll take the three.”
The Tribs responded to the pressure with 16 assists on 22 made field goals.
“If it’s a skip pass or dribble penetration, it has to be the right decision all the time,” Burns said. “I think we did that 95 percent of the game.”
Hemingway handed out five of those assists. The sophomore drew considerable attention from the opposing defense.
“They doubled him every single time,” Burns noted. “They ran and jumped him which is good coaching on their part. It makes him have to give up the ball.”
“It’s about making smart decisions,” Hemingway said of the defensive pressure. “They know the scouting report, and that I am going to drive and kick. My teammates have the confidence to sit down and shoot. Every time they were given an opportunity, they did what they had to do.”
Hemingway sparked what would be a decisive 10-4 run as the Tribunes took a five-point edge into half. The sophomore guard found Justin Vaughan (Raleigh, NC) open in the corner for his second 3-pointers in as many possessions. The Tribunes had a lead they would not surrender at 35-30.
Hemingway pushed the lead to seven when he took a long lead from Devin Coleman (Bridgeport, CT) and finished with a layup in the open court. Hemingway ended the stanza with a dunk to give MCC a 39-34 advantage.
Ashley scored all 12 of his points in the second half. One day after converting five rebound and putback opportunities, the 6-8 guard/ forward connected on all three of his opportunities from behind the arc. His catch-and-shoot trey from the top of the key gave Monroe a 61-52 lead with 8:22. He followed that with a tap in, and moments later he nailed a three-ball from the left corner for a double-digit advantage at 68-56.
“Today I tried to do it differently,” Ashley commented. “I took what came to me. Yesterday, the rebounds were dropping into my hands. They know I got a lot of rebounds, so they tried to box me out. I had to get something else going.”
Ashley finished with 27 points for the weekend on 11-of-15 shooting from the floor including 4-of-4 behind the arc and 3-of-6 from the free throw line.
“He’s very difficult to defend,” Burns stated. “He can take you outside and shoot it or go into the post. He handles the ball well enough. In the beginning of the year he wasn’t playing a lot of minutes, but we knew that he was going to be coming around. He played really well today.”
Coleman tied for a game-high with six assists. The sophomore guard added seven points and six rebounds, but he went looking for redemption in the last minute of the game. After a pair of untimely turnovers which led to the Surge cutting the lead to five, Coleman responded hitting 5-of-6 from the free throw line.
“I just wanted to make them for my coach,” Coleman said. “He believed in me after making those turnovers. I got to knock them down because he kept me in the game.”
Cory Smith (Ramsey, IN) came off the bench in the first half and pushed the Surge to their largest lead of the game. The 6-0 guard connected on three straight 3-pointers to give Cincinnati State a 25-24 lead. Tremayne Hawkins (Dayton, OH) followed suit with a trey of his own, and the Surge had a 28-24 lead.
Ashley drew the responsibility of shadowing Smith for the rest of the game.
Both teams scored 12 points off turnovers. The Surge held a 16-5 advantage in second-chance points and 36-24 on points in the paint. Monroe’s bench outscored their counterparts 28-23. The Tribs outscored Cincinnati State at the free throw line, 27-16. Monroe hit 27-of-47. The Surge went 16-of-30.
Vaughan scored 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting behind the arc. Elijah Tillman (Garnerville, NY) added 11 for the Tribunes.
Hawkins led Cincinnati State with 19 points. Deandre Hollins-Johnson (Omaha, NE) added 17 and six assists. Alexandre Baptiste (Allones, France) chipped in with 10.
Hemingway joined Hollins-Johnson, Hawkins, Mercyhurst NE’s Johnell Free and Northern Virginia’s Korey Williams on the All-Tournament team. The tournament is dedicated to Pete Pavia’s memory, the longtime Division I basketball official from Rochester. Pavia died at age 54 in 1992 from cancer.
Monroe (10-3) gave Cincinnati State (11-2) its only other loss – a 60-57 game on November 29th at the Surge Classic.
Monroe plays the host team in the Cecil College Holiday Tournament next weekend. The Tribs play Friday. A 7 p.m. tipoff is scheduled.
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