By PAUL GOTHAM
BATAVIA, N.Y. — The play on the dry-erase board didn’t look like what happened on the court. The result was the same.
An Izaha Jackson (Westside) 3-pointer with 7.2 seconds remaining in the game proved the difference as the No. 6 Monroe Community College Tribunes defeated the Genesee Community College Cougars, 64-63 in Region 3 action, Wednesday night.
Coming out of a timeout, Jackson, who entered the contest averaging 9.8 points a game, connected from the right wing with his only field goal of the night.
“During the timeout my teammates just told me to stay confident,” the sophomore guard said. “We’re going to look for you. Even though I didn’t play too good through the game, they just told me to stay confident.”
Dykweil Bryan (Boys and Girls) used a ball screen at the top of the key, but he didn’t create enough space on the first attempt and dribbled back to the top of the arc for a restart. He ended up in the right corner where he fed Jackson for the winning bucket.
“The big man was showing more, but I didn’t want to force anything,” Bryan said of GCC forward Rahsaan Williams. “Coach told me just ‘to get a good shot.’ I saw ‘Zay.’ I knew he was going to hit the shot.”
“We didn’t diagram it up that way,” Monroe head coach Jerry Burns commented. “We said we wanted to take the best shot possible. We tried to get a little dribble penetration against their big guy. Dada didn’t get around the corner, but he got it enough.”
The play brought to a close a final ten minutes which saw the Cougars take the lead at the 9:43 mark and only surrender it briefly before Jackson’s triple clinched the victory.
“I thought we played really good defense, but as good as we defended, I thought they defended just as well,” Burns noted. “We missed a lot of easy shots. A couple shots of baskets we should have made. It would have given us that little cushion.”
Genesee took advantage of opportunities at the free throw line to grab the lead. Tarik Allicock converted one of two free throws and gave the Cougars a 53-52 lead. Devante Carolina hit two of three, and Lamel Faison connected on one of two for a four-point GCC edge.
Damon Miraud (Elizabeth) kept the Tribunes in the game with six straight points. The sophomore forward grabbed an offensive rebound and finished underneath. Bryan threaded the needle and found Miraud behind the defense for another bucket. Miraud’s second rebound and putback tied the score at 58.
“That was big,” Burns said. “He made a big difference. As the games get bigger, his minutes get longer.”
Monroe took a brief lead when Bryan went the length of the floor for an and-one, but Genesee capitalized on a pair of Monroe turnovers. Terrence Brown scored in the lane, and Anthony Williams hit one of two from the charity stripe for a 63-61 GCC lead.
“We just turned it over too much,” Burns said. “We played hard. You have to live with those sort of things. I told the team as long as you’re playing hard, you can live with the mistakes.”
ShaQuan Bretoux (Central) capped a 9-2 run as Monroe took its largest lead of the first half at 27-21. The freshman forward finished at the rim with a lay in and then took an Omar Williams (Benjamin N. Cardozo) feed underneath for the six-point advantage.
Genesee answered.
Carolina hit a three, and Williams connected from the baseline for a 30-29 GCC edge.
Monroe’s Isaiah Davis (Elizabeth) closed the half with a triple as the shot clock expired to give the Tribunes a 40-39 lead going into the locker room. Davis finished with 10 points in the half and and a game-high 19.
“First thing I wanted to do was drive to the basket and see if I could get open shots,” Davis said. “Once they started falling, I knew I was going to be hitting more today.”
“Coach always tells me to ‘sit down and be ready to shoot.’ Once I had that in my head, it was all I needed.”
Monroe scored the first six coming out of the locker when Davis and Romaine Thomas (Evander Childs) both connected from behind the arc.
A Genesee timeout slowed the Tribunes.
The Cougars Anthony Williams knotted the score at 50 with a 3-pointer from the right corner.
Davis hit 8-of-10 from the floor including 3-of-4 behind the arc to lead all scorers. The sophomore forward grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.
Miraud added 13 points, seven rebounds and three blocks. Bryan chipped in a dozen points and handed out a team-high six assists.
Monroe hit 17-of-33 (51.5 percent) from the floor in the first half, but the Cougars forced nine second-half turnovers and held the Tribs to 10-of-29 (34.5 percent) shooting.
Rahsaan Williams led GCC with 14 and 10 rebounds. Brown had 13 and Carolina 10. Anthony Williams collected six assists.
Monroe improved to 17-2 and 7-0 in conference play. The Tribunes have won eight in a row. Monroe plays Suffolk CC on Friday night in the opener of the Philly Tournament at Herkimer CC.
Genesee fell to 17-7 and 4-4. The Cougars had won four straight coming into the game. Genesee, which beat Monroe in the Region 3 finals last year, has not beaten the Tribunes at home since February 20, 2014.
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