By Paul Gotham
BATAVIA, N.Y. — A career high, a game-winner on a final possession and a pair of second-half rallies – a battle of nationally-ranked teams lived up to its billing.
Elijah Tillman (Garnerville, N.Y./ North Rockland) netted all 13 of his points in the second half, and Anthony Hemingway (Brooklyn, N.Y./ NIA School) clinched it as the No. 10 Monroe Community College Tribunes outlasted No. 16 Genesee Community College Cougars, 68-66 in WNYAC action at Anthony T. Zambito Gymnasium, Saturday.
After not getting any shots in the first half, Tillman went 4-for-5 from the floor and 5-for-5 from the line after the break.
“They (GCC) have a couple good bigs,” Monroe coach Jerry Burns said. “But they have no one who can guard him, absolutely no one.”
Tillman’s conventional three-point play snapped a 51-51 tie with 7:17 remaining in the game. The 6-9 center corralled an offensive rebound on the left side of the basket, used a head fake to get a defender in the air, drew contact and finished from the right side of the cup.
“I knew if I could keep fighting for it and tip it at least one of my teammates could get it,” Tillman commented. “But it just came back to me. I was right there. I didn’t want to be lazy and give it up. I knew if I went up strong enough, I knew I could get an and-one.”
With the free throw, Monroe led 54-51 and never trailed again. It was part of a run where Tillman scored 11 straight Tribune points.
Tillman took a Devin Coleman (Bridgeport, CT/ Bassick) feed under the basket for his first points of the night. He followed with a bucket in the lane before the pivotal three-point play. He converted another rebound and putback before connecting on two free throws for a 58-51 advantage with 5:31 remaining.
“I know he’s a good basketball player,” Burns stated. “In the second half I don’t think they had an answer for him.”
The Black and Gold grabbed their largest lead of the game when Jayquan Ashley (Brooklyn, N.Y./ NIA) tapped in his own miss for a 60-51 lead. Monroe equaled the nine-point advantage when Tillman dropped two more from the charity stripe.
But Genesee rallied.
Ervin Mitchell (Brooklyn, N.Y./Brooklyn Collegiate) hit a turnaround jumper from the free throw line. Rahsaan Williams (Brooklyn, N.Y./ Chelsea) grabbed his own miss and finished. Naquil Jones (Philadelphia, Pa./ West Philadelphia) drilled a 3-pointer, and GCC trailed 65-60 with 2:17 to go.
Joshua Doughty (Mt. Vernon, N.Y./ Mount Vernon) hit a three, and Didier Antoine (Brooklyn, N.Y./ South Shore) scored off the window to tie the game at 66 with 17.5 left on the clock.
Hemingway took over from there. For the second time this season the sophomore guard took Monroe’s final shot of the game and made it count. Hemingway came off a high ball screen and nailed a jumper with 2.4 remaining.
“We just wanted to get a good possession,” Hemingway explained. “Coach drew it up for me to come off the screen. If anybody committed, I was going to drive and kick. When I came off the screen, nobody helped. I was one on one. I came off. I head-faked him. He went for it. I had a good look at a shot.”
Hemingway hit the game winner at the buzzer when MCC beat Cecil College earlier this season.
“He was going to get the ball at the end of the game,” Burns said. “That was the key.”
GCC had one last opportunity, but Doughty’s 65-foot heave missed the mark.
The Cougars jumped to an early lead from the opening tap.
Doughty sparked an early 7-0 run. The 5-9 point guard converted a steal and lay up. He followed with a pull-up three in transition, and GCC led 7-0.
Michael Kelly, Jr. (Bronx, N.Y./ Fairfield Warde) brought back the Tribunes. The 6-6 forward hit a runner in the lane. His second trey of the half cut the GCC lead to one at 15-14 after five minutes of play.
“They were focusing on my big man (Tillman) and Ant (Hemingway),” Kelly, Jr. said. “I had a lot of space to get to the basket and score. I just wanted to take charge. Step up and be a leader.”
The freshman forward tallied 16 of his career and game-high 22 points in the first half. Most with the Tribunes coming from behind.
“Coach always tells us to work hard even though we’re down. My slogan is never give up and work hard and think every possession is my last. We’ve been in many situations like that. This is a good win for us mentally, physically.”
GCC responded. Antoine and Williams converted back-to-back rebound and putbacks. Jones pushed the lead back to seven with a pair charity tosses. Gabriel Burroughs (New York, N.Y./ St. Raymond’s) hit a runner on the break, and GCC had their largest lead of the game at 24-16.
In the end, Monroe’s defense made the difference. Genesee entered the game scoring more than 95 points a game.
“We wanted to slow them down,” Burns noted. “Playing transition D against them is the key. If you go up and down the floor with them, you’re going to be in trouble. We worked on transition D all week.”
GCC came into the game shooting better than 48 percent from the floor. Monroe held the Cougars to 35.8 percent (24-for-67).
“They did a good job of executing their game plan,” Genesee coach Terry George stated. “We like to run and score a ton of points. They did a good job of making us work for every possession and every basket. That’s what good teams do.”
“It’s all predicated on practice,” Hemingway said. “We just did a good job all week working on getting back. Everybody contributed. We all hustled back. We stopped them from getting easy buckets. They’re a great team. They get out in transition they score pretty well. We just did a good job containing them.”
Kelly, Jr. went 8-for-15 from the floor including three triples. Coleman added 11, and Hemingway chipped in 10 and a game-high 10 rebounds.
Ashley handed out four assists.
Monroe outrebounded Genesee, 43-35. Tillman grabbed a game-high four boards on the offensive end.
Jones led GCC with 14. Mitchell added 13 and Antoine had 11. Doughty dished a game-high five assists to go with a game-high five steals and a team-high eight rebounds.
Monroe (13-4/2-0 WNYAC) hosts Niagara County Community College, Thursday night. An 8 pm tipoff is scheduled on Monagan Court.
Genesee (13-4/1-2) travels to Erie to take on the Kats, Thursday night. A 7:30 pm tip is slated at the Flickinger Center.
MCC hosts GCC, Wednesday, February 4th.
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