By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — It was not an uncommon sight. The Mynderse boys basketball team went into the locker room at halftime holding an opponent under 20 points.
The Blue Devils outdid themselves in the third quarter.
Tournament MVP Jake Mein paced three in double figures, and top-seeded Mynderse beat Newark, 50-30 to take the Section Five Class B crown.
Mynderse held Newark to just 13 first-half points and two field goals combined during the second and third quarters.
“The whole year we’ve gone into halftime only giving up 10, 12, 16, 18 points,” Mynderse head coach Pat Prayne said. “We sputtered a little bit on offense earlier in the season, but every game our defense has gotten us back into it. Our offense eventually comes around because we’ve got too many talented kids.”
Mein netted 17 on 7-of-15 shooting. The senior forward scored 12 in the first half before going to the bench with more than four minutes remaining in the second quarter.
Mynderse switched defenses with Mein on the pine, and Newark did not capitalize on the opportunity.
“We played a lot of zone the first half of the regular season and then just due to matchups we went a lot of man the second half,” Prayne explained. “It was nice to have that flexibility. That’s why we practice a lot, so we can adjust.”
Leading by seven at half, Mynderse put the game out of reach with an 11-1 run to start the second half.
Mein converted one of two free throws then scored in the lane. Brett Anderson sandwiched a Newark timeout with a pair of buckets. Mein got ahead of the defense for another basket, and Devin Anderson hit twice from the charity stripe.
Mynderse led 31-14.
Brett Anderson capped the stanza with a bucket on a leak out, and the Blue Devils led 35-17 going into the final stanza.
“Tonight, we kinda clicked on offense too, so it was the best of both worlds,” Prayne added. “Nobody beats Newark like that. They’re tough. They’re tough as nails. We see them in the league, so we were on the right end tonight.”
The meeting was the rubber match between Finger Lakes East rivals with Newark handing Mynderse its only loss earlier in the season.
“We were rolling at the point,” Prayne noted. “It grounded us, and we said ‘hey, fellas were good, but we gotta work. There are better teams out there.”
“In the Finger Lakes any team can come up and bite you on any given night. It worked out for us tonight. It got the first loss out of the way, got the monkey off the back.”
Mynderse outscored Newark in the paint (34-18) and off turnovers (13-8).
The Reds got the better of Mynderse on second-chance points, 10-4.
The teams combined to hit just one three-pointer on the night with Mynderse finishing 0-for-5 from long range. Newark was 1-for-12.
Mynderse’s Brett Anderson and Jake Jones scored 10 points apiece.
Nate Beard led Newark (18-6) with 10 points.
Mynderse (22-1) held Early College to 16 first-half points before outlasting the Cobras 59-58 in the semi-finals.
The championship was the first for Mynderse since 2013 when the Blue Devils took the C1 title. Newark won last year’s B1 crown.
Mynderse moves on to the Far West Regionals where they will play the winner of East Aurora and Health Sciences of Section VI. The game is scheduled for a 3:30 pm start, Saturday at Rush-Henrietta High School.
Brett Anderson and Quinten Battle joined Mein on the All-Tournament team. Beard and Taylor Clements represented Newark. Early College’s Tajmin Holt and Livonia’s Reid VanScoter rounded out the team.
MYNDERSE ACAD. 50, NEWARK 30
NEWARK (18-6)
Nate Beard 4-13 1-4 10; Terry Anglin 2-3 1-2 5; Taylor Clements 2-11 1-2 5;
Greg Bremer 1-2 0-0 2; Jayden Peters 0-2 2-2 2; Parker Casselman 1-2 0-0 2;
Marcel DeSouza 1-2 0-0 2; Ben Cowles 0-2 1-2 1; D’Andre Saunders 0-3 1-2 1;
Brian Sharp 0-6 0-0 0; Logan Moynihan 0-1 0-0 0; Alejandro Caraballo 0-4 0-0
0. Totals 11-51 7-14 30.
MYNDERSE ACAD. (22-1)
Jake Mein 7-15 3-5 17; Brett Anderson 5-11 0-0 10; Jakes Jones 3-11 4-4 10;
Quinten Battler 2-3 4-6 8; Hunter Haust 1-5 1-1 3; Devin Anderson 0-4 2-2 2;
Aiden Trout 0-0 0-0 0; Jesse Kabat 0-0 0-0 0; Jake Robinson 0-0 0-0 0;
Keegan Baker 0-0 0-0 0; Darrin Miller 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-49 14-18 50.
Newark…………………… 9 4 4 13 – 30
Mynderse Acad…………….. 12 8 15 15 – 50
3-point goals–Newark 1-12 (Nate Beard 1-1; Terry Anglin 0-1; Jayden Peters
0-2; Marcel DeSouza 0-1; D’Andre Saunders 0-1; Brian Sharp 0-4; Logan
Moynihan 0-1; Alejandro Caraballo 0-1), Mynderse Acad. 0-5 (; Brett Anderson
0-1; Jakes Jones 0-3; Devin Anderson 0-1). Fouled out–Newark-None, Mynderse
Acad.-None. Rebounds–Newark 36 (Taylor Clements 8), Mynderse Acad. 36 (Jake
Mein 8). Assists–Newark 4 (Marcel DeSouza 2), Mynderse Acad. 5 (Brett
Anderson 2; Jakes Jones 2). Total fouls–Newark 15, Mynderse Acad. 15.
Technical fouls–Newark-None, Mynderse Acad.-None.
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