By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Tournament MVP Darwin Trotman (John Jay) led four in double figures as the Monroe Community College Tribunes defeated the Mohawk Valley Community College Hawks, 86-58 in the finals of the 23rd Annual Pete Pavia Memorial Scholarship Tournament played on Monagan Court, Sunday.
Trotman finished with 18, Sunday on 7-of-13 shooting for a two-day total of 38 points.
“He plays within himself,” Monroe head coach Jerry Burns said. “Both days he was a man among boys.”
Trotman scored nine on 4-of-5 shooting as the Tribunes more than doubled their halftime lead of 12.
“We play as a team all the time,” Trotman said . “We don’t worry about who’s doing the scoring.”
One day after he brought down the house with a spectacular finish of an alley oop, Trotman gave fans of a double dose of dunkenstein when he combined with teammate Dykweil Bryan (Boys and Girls) on back-to-back highlight reel plays.
“Those dunks that he had?,” Burns said. “That’s big time basketball when you can take off and do those kinds of things.”
Mohawk Valley took a timeout with 16:45 remaining in the game, and Monroe leading 55-37.
The break in the game didn’t help the Hawks.
Monroe eventually stretched the lead to 28 when Trotman fed Izaha Jackson (Westside) on a two on one for a layup and a 76-48 MCC advantage with 8:30 remaining.
“We were running and running and running,” Burns noted. “They looked like they started to get gassed. That’s when the lead went from 15 to 28 or something. It’s not a matter of slowing it down. It’s matter of continuing to run, but not turning it over.”
One day after hitting just four of 27 attempts behind the arc, the Tribunes connected on 7-of-18 triples in the championship game.
“I really don’t have a problem with us going four of 27,” Burns commented. “Would I have liked us to have made eight of 27? Yeah. But I’ve always said ‘you have to be able to live with taking good shots.”
“I thought we passed the ball and did the same things we did yesterday. They played us a lot of zone yesterday. They played us a lot of zone today. It was the same shots. It was the same offense. The offense didn’t change. Today, the ball went in.”
Bryan scored 13 in the first half and finished with 17 and three assists. Jackson added ten on 3-of-6 shooting including 2-of-3 from long range. Isaiah Davis (Elizabeth) led all with three triples on the day. He finished with 13 points.
Damon Miraud (Elizabeth) grabbed a game-high nine boards as Monroe outrebounded Mohawk Valley, 46-33.
The Tribunes handed out 14 assists on 31 made field goals.
“Playing unselfish with the ball gets contagious,” Burns said. “If you can do that, it leads to a lot of good things. There were a lot of guys who gave up shots. Shots that weren’t bad shots, but there was somebody with a better shot. That’s a hard thing to teach an 18-year old kid. We did that today.”
Mohawk Valley finished with four assists and 15 turnovers.
“In practice we work on pressure and trapping,” Trotman said. “Full-court pickup or half. All that good stuff. That translates into the game.”
Trotman handed out a game-high seven assists and corralled six rebounds to grab the Most Valuable Player honors.
“It was good for him,” Burns said of the MVP nod. “He deserves it…I don’t see Darwin doing a lot of things he can’t do. He’s not a tremendous three-point shooter. Instead of him shooting ten of them a game, he may shoot two of them a game. It’s playing to your strength.”
Bryan netted five of his 13 first-half point as the Tribunes took an 11-4 run into the locker room at halftime. After Trotman scored in traffic, Bryan used a ball screen to get open for a pull-up jumper from the free throw line. Davis converted a pair of free throws before Bryan took a Trotman lead and nailed a spot-up triple. ShaQuan Bretoux (Central) closed the half with a runner from the wing.
The Tribunes used a 10-0 run to grab an early double-digit lead. Miraud scored underneath. Bryan went end-to-end for a layup. After a Mohawk Valley timeout, Trotman converted a three-point play. Miraud connected for three, and Monroe led 21-11.
Mohawk Valley cut the lead to five. Devonte Wilson (Jefferson) had a steal and layup. Trevis Wigfall (Bedford) hit a pair from the free throw line. Ronnie Williams (Cicero-North Syracuse) finished a rebound and putback, and MVCC trailed 32-27.
Kyron Allen (Aquinas) scored six as MVCC grabbed an early 9-8 edge. It was the last time the Hawks led.
Janeel Frith (Transit Tech) led MVCC with 18.
Bryan and Miraud joined Trotman on the All-Tournament team.
MVCC’s Frith and Creig Goldson (Transit Tech) all-tourney honors.
Lackawanna’s Mark Perry (Steelton-Highspire) rounded out the all-tournament honors.
Monroe improved to 9-1.
Pete Pavia, a longtime Division I basketball official from Rochester, died at the age of 54 in 1992. He was active in charity efforts with Camp Good Days and Special Times.
Leave a Reply