By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Reggie Simmons doesn’t mind having to cheer for an opponent. At least as long as it’s just for one night. Rondell Watson is not so sure about that prospect.
Either way, it doesn’t matter. The Leadership Academy (LA) boys’ basketball team avenged an earlier loss and took care of its end of the deal Tuesday night with a 71-70 victory over the McQuaid Jesuit Knights.
With the win, Leadership claimed at least a share of the RCAC Division A title. Now the Lions need some help from Edison Tech. If the Inventors beat Monroe on Wednesday, Leadership will take the crown outright.
“I’m hoping to bring that division RCAC division championship back to LA where it belongs,” Simmons said. “So proud of these guys for their efforts and everything they achieved tonight.”
In a game containing four ties and 14 lead changes, Leadership (17-2/8-2) pushed the pendulum last.
Dez Ellis scored 17 points none more important than a pair of free throws with his team trailing by one and 5.8 seconds remaining.
“I knew if I missed one we were going to overtime,” the senior guard said. “I wasn’t thinking about that. I was thinking about sealing the game. Winning the game and finishing it out for the boys.”
Ellis sank both and Leadership’s defense, which forced 13 turnovers on the night, got one last stop.
“Defense was definitely the key tonight,” Ellis said. “Our communication was awesome. We were hedging hard. We were getting off the screens.”
Davon Brown scored a season-high 27 points and hauled in 14 rebounds to pace the Lions. The senior forward, who has totaled double figures in each of the last six games, delivered early and often for the Lions.
Brown opened the game with a 3-pointer from the left wing, his first of four triples on the night. In a fourth quarter where neither team led by more than five points, Brown converted 4-of-4 from the free throw line.
“The kids just gutted it out,” Simmons said. “This was the game that we had circled on our calendar. We knew that they had been winning game after game. We knew this was going to be tough. I’m so glad that my guys persevered.”
Brown’s offensive output proved timely as Watson, the division’s leading scorer with 22.3 points per game, struggled with foul trouble. The junior guard picked up his second infraction late in the first quarter and was whistled for his fourth with 4:19 to go in the third quarter.
With Watson on the bench, Brown and Ellis led a 14-2 first half run.
Trailing by five late in the first, Brown completed a traditional 3-point play. He opened the second quarter with a pair of treys, and Ellis converted two turnovers into layups for a 27-20 Leadership advantage.
McQuaid’s Kobe Long and Jermaine Taggart combined for 22 first-half points to keep McQuaid close. Long hit four of his six 3-pointers in the game’s first 16 minutes. The sophomore guard matched Brown with 27 points on the night.
The Knights looked destined to pull out a victory. Trailing by 11 earlier in the third quarter, senior Anthony Iglesia sparked a 10-2 run with a three ball. Long followed with a layup in the open court, and Iglesia, who willed McQuaid to an overtime defeat of Bishop Kearney 11 days ago, scored five straight. McQuaid went into the fourth quarter with a 52-51 advantage.
“We know he is a great player,” Simmons said of Iglesia. “We just kept to our game plan. We had two guys identify him and they were going to switch on and off guarding him. We stayed the course according to the game plan.”
A Marcus Barr rebound and putback gave Leadership a 65-60 advantage midway through the fourth quarter.
Iglesia hit a floater in the lane to pull McQuaid within one at 69-68. The senior guard followed with a turnaround jumper in the lane for a 70-69 edge.
“It feels great to come out and win this game,” Ellis said. “They came in our house, kicked our butts and gave us what we deserved. We came and gave them their payback.”
The loss snapped a seven-game winning streak for McQuaid which included a victory in the first game when the same two teams met on January 27th.
Iglesia finished with 19 points. Taggart added 11. Connor Zamiara scored nine, and Joe Catone had two points.
Ellis collected five rebounds and seven assists on the night. Marcus Barr and Shamir Mccullough scored six points apiece for Leadership. Nate Doyle had three and Shaheem Britt, two.
Watson finished with 10. As far as cheering for Edison Tech goes, he said: “Yeah I don’t know about that.”
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