BY PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — For now the RCAC belongs to the basketball team at the Leadership Academy for Young Men.
After Wednesday night’s convincing victory, it’s hard to see the Lions surrendering their top spot in the league’s Division A any time soon.
Dez Ellis and Rondell Watson combined to score 59 points, and Leadership ran away from the Monroe Redjackets, 99-70.
“It’s looking very, very promising,” said Leadership coach Reggie Simmons. “We still have a lot of work to do, a couple things to clean up but it’s finally coming together. This was our best game thus far this season.”
Ellis and Watson led an offense which connected 15 times behind the arc for the game including 14 strikes in the first three quarters to take a 27-point lead going into the final stanza.
“We wanted to spread them out and then just let our athletes take control,” Simmons noted. “We’ve been practicing on our shooting all summer and pre-season. Now it’s starting to come around because some of the other games we didn’t shoot as well.”
At the same time, Leadership’s defense limited a Monroe offense, which collected 13 3-pointers in their most recent outing, to seven 3s for the night. Two of those treys came on Monroe’s first two possessions of the game. The Lions made the adjustment from there
“For the most part we started off with the zone press full court and then we went man to man because we knew they had so many shooters,” Simmons explained. “We just wanted to break up their rhythm.”
Dez Ellis with the spin move into the pull-up jumper for 2 of his 30 points on the night. pic.twitter.com/AformXlr5l
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) December 21, 2017
Ellis and Watson did all the scoring during a 17-6 run from the end of the first through the early stages of the second quarter. A run that all but put the game out of reach.
Watson converted a turnover into a layup. Ellis nailed a three from the left corner then scored at the rim before hitting one of two free throws to close the first eight minutes of play.
Watson opened the second with a trifecta from the top of the arc. Ellis hit from the left wing, and Watson made it a 36-22 game with another bomb from the top of the arc.
The Lions did not relinquish their double-digit lead for the remainder of the contest.
Ellis finished with a game-high 30 points to go with six assists and six rebounds.
Watson added 29 including seven three-pointers on the night and collected five assists and three steals.
“I hit one, and they started falling,” the junior guard said. “I let ’em fly after that.”
“He had a wonderful preseason, but the first three games his shot just wasn’t there,” Simmons said. “We spent a lot of time in practice seeing if he could start taking them off the dribble first and then get into his rhythm with the 3-pointers. Today it all came together.”
Leadership, ranked No. 22 NYSSWA Class A, improved to 4-0 on the season. With the win, the Lions handed Monroe (4-3) its first loss in the league play.
Nate Doyle chipped in 15 points for Leadership. Marcus Barr hauled in 10 rebounds and scored eight points.
Other scorers: Leadership – Onaejae Anderson (2), Shaheem Britt (2), Shamir Mccullough (2), Zachary Blair (4) and Davon Brown (7). Monroe – Devante Mateo (11), Chris Gibson Jr. (12), Jo-Nathan Jones (14), Trevone Glasgow (2), Jonathan Jones (5), Tyquil Glasgow (8), Giovanelli Santiago (14) and Mike Nunez (4).
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