By Paul Gotham
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Of sluggish starts and dramatic comebacks, the Monroe Community College men’s basketball have had a few. Tuesday night the Tribunes continued to see how many lives they possess.
Josh Ashley (Brooklyn, N.Y./NIA School) and Devin Coleman (Bridgeport, CT/Bassick) combined for 30 second-half points as Monroe CC came from behind to defeat the Erie Community College Kats, 87-77 in WNYAC action on Monagan Court.
Coleman went 6 of 11 from the floor after the break including 4 of 8 behind the arc. His 3-pointer with 4:08 remaining on the game clock gave Monroe a lead it never surrendered.
“I felt like I had the hot hand, so I let it go,” Coleman said of the shot.
His bucket made it a 72-70 game and gave Monroe its first lead since 4-3. Ashley set up the basket with a slight dribble penetration at the top of the key before feeding his teammate.
“He drove and kicked. We work on that in practice,” Coleman commented. “It’s all about trust.”
“We always work on the extra pass,” Ashley noted. “It’s second nature. I see my teammate open. I got to penetrate and kick.”
Moments later, Coleman all but sealed the victory with a dagger from the right corner. Anthony Hemingway (Brooklyn, N.Y./NIA School) grabbed a defensive rebound and went the length of the floor. Monroe’s leading scorer had the defender in the air with a chance to finish in the lane. Instead he fed his teammate.
“I was just thinking to drive real hard,” Hemingway recalled. “If I get them to commit, do what I’m supposed to do and trust my teammate. I will give up my shot to sacrifice for a better shot.”
Coleman’s shot gave Monroe a 79-73 advantage with 2:52 left on the clock.
“That three was the back breaker,” Monroe head coach Jerry Burns stated “We could come down and take time off the clock after that.”
For Hemingway, Monroe’s leading scorer, the play and game showed his ability to adjust. Saddled with early foul trouble, he played just seven minutes in the first half. He found his rhythm coming out of the locker room with the pass as he dished a game-high eight assists.
“We tried to put him in, put him out,” Burns said of his substitution patterns going into halftime. “It just didn’t work. That’s tough. In the second half he finally broke a sweat, and he was in the flow of the game. That one pass to Devin was huge.”
Hemingway came in averaging more than 18 a game. He hit both of his shots from the floor and all three of his free throw attempts for seven points.
“They play good defense,” Hemingway said of ECC. “I figured this game would be predicated on me. I had a good game against Niagara. Now, I’m just trusting my teammates. Anybody on this team can do what we need them to do.”
Ashley led four in double figures with 21. The 6-8 guard/forward hit 6 of 11 from the floor and 9 of 12 from the line. He sparked the late rally with back-to-back baskets. Trailing by eight, he sliced through the Erie zone from the right wing and finished at the rim. On the next possession he followed a Justin Vaughan (Raleigh, N.C./Body of Christ) three attempt and scored with a tap in.
By the time Vaughan led Coleman for a trey, Monroe had taken a nine-point deficit and cut it to two at 66-64.
“I just wanted to step up my game, Ashley said. “Anything I can do for my team, I’m going to do it.”
When Elijah Tillman (Garnerville, N.Y./North Rockland) knocked away a post entry pass, Hemingway scooped up the loose ball. The sophomore scored in transition with contact. One free throw later and MCC led 81-75.
The trio sealed the victory late.
Ashley converted one of two from the line. Coleman hit two as did Hemingway for the final score.
“They just came off a loss to Genesee,” Hemingway said Erie. “They came in here to win. They’re a tough team. We just did what we had to do. Our practice carried out into the game.”
The 6-9 Tillman finished with a game-high five steals.
“In the first half that big kid got the better of him,” Burns said of his sophomore center. “In the second half, Elijah made a good adjustment to get around. In the first half he was just letting him seal him. They were entering the ball from such a far distance, and he could just get around.”
Ashley and Darwin Trotman (Brooklyn, N.Y./John Jay) sparked a 15-4 run to close the first half as the Tribunes cut into a 16-point deficit.
Ashley converted a pair of free throws before catching the ball on the wing and using a pass fake to drive through the Erie 2-3 zone for a lay in.
Tillman drew a charge at the other end. Brandon Martin (Mount Vernon, N.Y./Mount Vernon) made good on the opportunity sinking a pair from the charity stripe. Tillman tipped an Erie inbound pass, and Trotman gathered the loose ball before leading a three-on-one break. Martin took a Trotman lead and finished with contact. After the traditional three-point play, Monroe trailed 41-34.
Vaughan took a Trotman feed and nailed a catch-and-shoot trey from the left corner. The Tribunes trimmed the lead to two when Trotman found a gap at the top of the zone, penetrated and fed Tillman for a bucket.
Stefan Osuji (Gloucester,N.J/Gloucester City) scored underneath and hit two free throws for ECC to close the half with a 45-39 lead.
The Kats attacked from inside and out. Andre Diggs (Brooklyn, N.Y./Our Savior Lutheran) connected on 3 of 4 3-pointers in the first half. His 3-ball from the left corner followed by a Yusuf Yakubu (Nigeria/GSS Kargi) steal and layup pushed the Erie advantage to 31-17 and brought a timeout from the Monroe bench.
Osuji pushed the lead to 16 with a steal and layup.
“Erie plays so hard,” Burns said. “I always have to give them credit on how hard they play. I’d rather not come from behind. I was telling my son, Ross, that’s two games that we’ve come out really flat. If it’s one game maybe, but that’s the second game. It has to be something with the coaching. We have to go into practice and we need to jump on it right away. You can’t give up 50 points right off the bat. If we play like that up there, we may not come back. You got to constantly come out and set the tone like we did in the second half.”
After starting the game 9 of 20 from the floor, the Tribs hit 18 of their last 29 shots.
Michael Kelly Jr. (Bronx, N.Y./Fairfield Warde) added 14 on 7 of 9 shooting for the Tribunes.
Martin chipped in 10.
Ashley grabbed a game-high eight rebounds as Monroe got the better of their counterparts on the boards, 36-32.
Michael Vigilance (Brooklyn, N.Y./Lincoln) paced Erie with 19. Diggs and Dashawn King (Bronx, N.Y./ASE) each had 14. Osuji chipped in 13.
Hemingway’s 3-pointer in the final minute clinched Monroe’s victory over Niagara County CC – a game in which the Tribs trailed by as much nine. Hemingway’s jumper with 2.4 on the clock was the difference in MCC’s win at GCC.
Monroe (15-4/4-0 WNYAC) travels to Jamestown on Thursday where they will take on the Jayhawks.
Erie (9-5/2-2) hosts Mercyhurst NE also on Thursday.
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