By PAUL GOTHAM
BUFFALO — It took nearly 30 minutes to find the range from behind the arc. Their work at the free throw line resulted in little charity. Sprinkle in a pair of mental mistakes and an eight-point second half deficit on the road seemed acceptable.
That’s the situation the Monroe Community College Tribunes faced on Tuesday night.
Damon Miraud (Elizabeth) sparked a second-half comeback as Monroe defeated the Erie Community College Kats, 63-62 in Region 3 action at the Burt Flickinger Center.
Miraud scored four straight as the Tribunes took their first lead of the second half.
“He plays at such a high level in terms of energy,” Monroe head coach Jerry Burns said. “That’s why his minutes are high.”
Miraud slipped behind the Erie 2-3 zone, and teammate Romaine Thomas (Evander Childs) led him with a high-low pass for a bucket. After blocking a shot on the defensive end, Miraud beat the Kats up the floor, and Isaiah Davis (Elizabeth) led him for the layup.
“He’s doing all the things needed liking tipping the ball, blocking shots, rebounding and taking charges,” Burns added. “Not all of those things show up in the box score. That’s why his minutes are what they are. He played a lot.”
Dykweil Bryan (Boys and Girls) grabbed a long defensive rebound and went the length of the floor for another deuce and a 43-42 Monroe advantage. It was the Tribunes first lead since a 19-18 edge late in the first half.
“I don’t think we played well tonight,” Burns stated. “It is a win. It goes down as a W. Those all count towards the end of the year. You have to start getting better.”
Jonathan Pozo (Health Prof) answered for Erie with one of his three 3-pointers on the night.
“Erie plays with a lot of energy,” Burns commented. “They’re bouncy. They’re live. You can’t take any possessions off.”
Monroe recaptured the lead when Davis connected from the right corner. It was the first triple of the night for the Black and Gold coming at the 11:05 mark of the second half.
Erie would not go away.
Shaheem Trammell (Metropolitan HS) scored back-to-back buckets to give ECC a 54-51 with 6:25 left on the clock.
Coming out of a timeout, Miraud rose up in a crowd to tip an offensive rebound rebound to the perimeter. Izaha Jackson (Westside) made good on his teammate’s effort and tied the game at 54 with a 3-pointer.
It was redemption for the sophomore guard who committed a foul 85 feet from the basket with less than a second remaining in the first half. Erie did not take advantage of the opportunity at the free throw line, but the lapse coupled with Davis picking up a technical showed the lack of a mental edge.
“They’re sophomores,” Burns stated. “That’s what I told them. When you’re freshmen and you make those kind of mistakes, you have to live with it a little bit as a coach. But when you have sophomores who play a lot of minutes for you. You expect more.”
The duo combined for 16 second-half points.
“They’re good players. That’s why you got to give them another shot in the second half.”
Jackson gave the Tribs their largest lead of the second half at 58-55 with his third trey of the stanza.
Erie’s Yusuf Yakubu (GSS Kargi) responded with a pair of free throws. Moments later, the 6-7 Yakubu made it a one-point game with an upfake from the left corner leading to a baseline drive and thunderous tomahawk dunk. Monroe led 60-59 with 47.3 to go.
Davis hit a floater from the baseline over Yakubu who was playing with four fouls. Bryan converted one of two from the free throw line to seal the victory.
The win was the fourth straight for MCC and the second comeback in a row on the road.
“We haven’t played well in the last three games,” Burns said as he referred to his former college coach and current Detroit Pistons head man, Stan Van Gundy. “He said sometimes winning gives you a false sense that you’re doing things right as a good basketball team. That’s what I told our guys. Just because you win doesn’t mean you play good basketball. We’ve won our last three games. We haven’t played good basketball. Our guys can’t be in that mindset we’re doing everything the right way.
“You have took at all the mistakes you made on a consistent basis if you want to advance further than just finishing out and possibly losing the regional championship. February is the time of year when you have to start going higher and higher. I don’t think we’re even close to that yet.”
Monroe finished 13-of-27 from the free throw line including two misses on the front ends of one-and-one opportunities.
“We missed a lot of big free throws. When you miss a lot of big free throws and you miss a lot of consecutive ones by different players, it starts to mount. I think guys were going to the free throw line hesitant about making them. You got to up there and knock those down.”
Yakubu, Erie’s leading scorer averaging 16.4 points and 12.4 rebounds, was limited to 12 minutes because of foul trouble. Miraud took two charges on the ECC big man including one at the 18:28 mark of the second half – Yakubu’s third of the game. Miraud also had one of his game-high four blocks late in the second half when he didn’t bite on Yakubu’s upfake in the lane.
Jackson and Thomas led Monroe with 11 points apiece. Thomas grabbed seven caroms. Bryan handed out six assists.
Pozo led all scorers with 18 points. Trammell added 13 for the Kats. Joseph Hines (Piscataway HS) chipped in 10. Pozo and Sam Castronova (Williamsville South) pulled down a game-high nine boards. Joshua McKenzie (Midwood) dished out eight helpers.
Roger Harris scored six straight in the first half. His turnaround jumper in the lane gave Monroe a 13-9 lead.
Monroe improved to 14-2 overall and 4-0 in league play. Erie fell to 9-8 and 2-2.
Monroe travels to Jamestown to take on the Jayhawks (16-3/2-1) Thursday night. Jamestown, averaging 92.8 points a game, handed ECC one of its two conference losses – a 103-78 drubbing on January 14th.
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