By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Five scored in double figures as the Monroe Community College Tribunes erased an early deficit en route to an 84-76 victory over the Mercyhurst NE Saints in the finals of the Murph Shapiro on Monagan Court, Sunday afternoon.
Trailing by as many as seven, Monroe went on a 19-3 run midway through the first half and never trailed again.
With Mercyhurst playing 2-3 zone, sharpshooter Izaha Jackson (Brooklyn, N.Y.) netted 10 points in 2:33.
After a pair of free throws from Shaleik Ulysse (Brooklyn, N.Y.), the Tribunes used full-court pressure to create a turnover. Jackson came up with the steal and converted at the other end with a layup. Isaiah Davis (Elizabeth, N.J.) delivered a 3-pointer on the break before Jackson drove for another deuce. The 6-0 guard followed with back-to-back treys.
“Coach is telling me when I get in the game ‘be in attack mode,'” Jackson said. “Just so happened I got it baseline found an opening and scored. Whatever they give us, we take.”
Darwin Trotman (Brooklyn, N.Y.) kept the momentum going with baskets on the next two possessions.
“That dude is hard to defend because he’s strong and gets to the basket,” Monroe head coach Jerry Burns said of Trotman. “When he got going, that’s when we got going.”
Trotman took a a feed from Jackson on the break for a dunk and made it 35-23 game with a layup the next trip down the floor.
Monroe carried a 43-36 lead into halftime and scored the first nine points coming out of the locker room.
But the Saints absorbed the body blows and rallied. Justin Vaughan (Raleigh, N.C.) scored five straight. Omar Little, Jr. (Williamsport, PA) finished a layup. Xavier Sewell (Germantown, MD) went end-to-end for two and tied the score at 58.
Burns pointed to Trotman for stopping Mercyhurst’s run.
“If it was late in the year when they scored maybe like six points in a row, I would have called a time out immediately,” Burns explained. “I wouldn’t have let that lead evaporate. With him [Trotman] and those other guys, I want them to learn how play with a lead and keeping a lead.
“Seeing it slip away, I want them to recognize when they need to have a good possession. When we started to lose the lead, he realized he had to get to the basket, score and doing some really good things. That’s what he did.”
With Mercyhurst extending a man-to-man defense, Trotman drove the lane for two. He converted one of two free throws on the next possession and his dunk on the break gave the Tribunes a 71-64 with just over four minutes to play.
Trotman finished with 13 points, eight rebounds, four assists and a steal.
The Tribunes converted 20 offensive rebounds, including four in the second half on missed free throws, into 17 second-chance points.
“We go after everything,” Trotman said. “Rebounds or anything that’s on the floor we’re going to go after it.”
“Playing hard is a matter of doing it all the time,” Burns noted. “Any chance you get for a loose ball is an opportunity to create an extra possession. We were up 15, getting ready to put that game away, and they fought all the way back and tied the game. A couple of those second effort opportunities demoralized them. It gave us a little bit more breathing room.”
After connecting on seven of 20 attempts from long range against a zone defense in the first half, MCC attempted just eight shots behind the arc versus Mercyhurst’s man-to-man in the second half. Getting into the lane off the dribble, Monroe found its rhythm.
“You can definitely feel it,” Burns said of the rhythm. “It all starts with effort like getting back tip or getting a couple of steals and leading to an easy basket or two with the extra pass. When you do those things, you get open shots, and you can knock them down.
“We’re running a whole different offense. I think it gives them some clarity of where to cut. Last year we didn’t run the same kind of structured offense, and it caused us sometimes to be a little discombobulated. Whereas at least his year, if we run the offense the right at least makes the opposing team play defense for a good 20 seconds. Then maybe you can get an easier shot at that point.”
Romaine Thomas (Bronx, N.Y.) registered the first double-double of his Monroe career with a game-high 11 rebounds and 14 points. Jackson added 13 with six boards and two steals. Ulysse paced the Tribs with 15 on 4-of-5 shooting behind the arc. Davis chipped in 14 points and six rebounds.
Limited to 17 minutes because of foul trouble, Damon Miraud (Elizabeth, N.J.) scored seven and corralled seven boards. Dykweil Bryan (Brooklyn, N.Y.) handed out four assists.
Vaughan led all scorers with 27 hitting all nine of his attempts from the free throw line. Gerrell Williams (Lorain, OH) added 20. Sewell notched a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. The freshman guard added three blocks.
Monroe improved to 4-0 with the win. The Tribunes travel to New Rochelle next weekend and take on the host in the Monroe College Classic.
Mercyhurst fell to 3-3. The Saints travel to Lakeland for 7 p.m. game on Tuesday.
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