By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — On a day when RCAC rivals paid little attention to tournament seeds, the Monroe Redjackets followed suit.
Ty Glasgow led four in double figures, and No. 6-seed Monroe defeated No. 3-seed NE Douglass, 81-67 in Class A2 action at School #33, Saturday evening.
Five different Redjackets scored in the first eight minutes as Monroe took a double-digit lead into the second quarter and never trailed in the contest.
“When we move the ball and have the ‘we’ mentality with three or more guys in double digits, we win games,” said 11th-year Monroe coach Matt McCormick. “We executed well tonight.”
Glasgow got the scoring started with a rebound and putback. Jonathan Jones drove from the corner for two. Chris Gibson Jr. took an inbound pass and converted before Jones nailed a three from the right corner to double up NE Douglass, 12-6.
Jones had a steal and layup. DeVante Mateo knocked down a three from the right wing. Rayshawn Boswell faked a hand off and drove the lane to give the Redjackets a 23-12 advantage after the first quarter.
“We kinda live and die by the three,” McCormick noted. “I thought tonight we mixed it up a little bit.”
Monroe took a nine-point advantage into halftime and maintained a doubled-digit advantage until the Panthers Jiahmere Mitchell connected on back-to-back 3-pointers midway through the third quarter. Will Washington followed with a layup on the break, and NE Douglass moved within seven at 47-40.
Boswell responded with a deep three late in the clock to push the lead back to 10. Monroe never let the lead get below nine from there.
“I told him in that situation ‘just make a play.,’” McCormick said. “I guess he made it.”
Monroe (11-11) beat NE Douglass (13-8) in a season-opening tournament at Eastridge. The Panthers downed Monroe in league play.
“They got us in early January, but knew that we could beat them,” McCormick noted. “We kinda looked at what we did against them first time. We knew they would try something different. They threw a new defense against us. We responded well. The resiliency was there.”
Glasgow scored 20. Jones and Mateo had 19 apiece. Boswell finished with 12.
Mitchell had 33 points for NE Douglass. Torrence Phillips chipped in 19.
Earlier in the day RCAC rivals squared off in the opposite side of the A2 bracket when eighth-seeded Wilson beat top-seed Leadership, 67-62.
Monroe will play No. 2-seed Wayne in Tuesday’s Class A2 semi-final round. The Eagles beat Pittsford-Sutherland, 46-43.
OTHER A2 ACTION:
No. 4-seed Batavia 59 No. 5-seed Honeoye Falls-Lima 49
Antwan Odom scored 22, and Tee Sean Ayala added 14 as Batavia head coach Buddy Brasky won his 400th career game. Owen VanNewkirk had 15 for HF-L (10-10). David O’Connell chipped in 10. Batavia moves on to play No. 8-seed Wilson in Tuesday’s semi-final. A 6:30 pm tip time is scheduled at Rush-Henrietta High School. Batavia beat Wilson, 64-57 in last year’s A2 final.
No. 8-seed Wilson-Magnet 67 No. 1-seed Leadership 62
Wilson-Magnet ended the first quarter on a 15-4 run and went on to knock off top-seeded Leadership Academy, 67-62 in the Class A2 quarter-finals. READ MORE.
No. 2-seed Wayne 46 No. 7-seed Pittsford-Sutherland 43
Logan Blankenberg scored 16 of his game-high 17 in the first half to pace the Eagles. Braeden Zenelovic had eight points and seven rebounds for Wayne. Billy Thomson had seven points and four steal. Nick Carmichael scored eight. Wayne (18-3) moves on to play No. 6-seed Monroe in Tuesday’s semi-final. An 8:15 start is scheduled at Rush-Henrietta High School.
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