By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Their names both end in junior. Their games are anything but small. And Friday night Melvin Council, Jr. and Kelvin Reaves, Jr. put the rest of Section V on notice.
Reaves capped a dramatic sequence in the final minute of play with a layup in the open court, and Greece Athena defeated UPrep, 70-68.
“Everybody thinks that since our four seniors left that were like going to be nothing,” Reaves said referring to Christian Jones, Ryan Kubanka, Patrick Meisenzahl and Nigel Scantlebury who graduated from last season’s Class A finalist squad. “They forgot about Kelvin and Melvin. We came out and put a show on.”
The duo combined to score 25 points apiece in their season opener to knock off a UPrep squad which has reached the Class AA finals the past two years.
“Their performance doesn’t surprise me,” third-year coach Mike Setzer said. “That’s what I expect of them.”
In a fourth quarter that saw five lead changes and three ties, Reaves got loose in the open court to give Athena the final swing of the pendulum with 1.7 seconds left on the clock.
“I was thinking everybody’s been getting a good attack and scoring the ball,” Reaves said of the game winner . “If you attack, you’re going to win.”
UPrep’s Jakhi Lucas hit a 3-pointer to tie the game with just under :10 seconds left on the clock.
Athena didn’t hesitate and pushed the ball up the floor.
“The kids know,” Setzer said of the final 10 seconds. “We practice this. My rule is anything under seven (seconds) I’ll call the timeout. Anything more than that [is different]. The hardest thing to do especially with a team like us is guard us in transition. We always say ‘let’s get the ball in and attack.’ That’s why we didn’t call a timeout in that situation. I had one, but I think it would have been harder to cover us in transition with the speed that we have.”
Winning bucket courtesy of Kelvin Reaves, Jr. pic.twitter.com/iYYcScYCN3
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) December 1, 2018
It was a bookend effort for Reaves who scored the game’s first bucket on a catch-and-shoot three from the wing. He connected 11 times from the floor on the evening.
“That is the Kelvin Reaves that I expect this year,” Setzer said. “A tough kid who can get to the basket and knock down a three.”
After finding the measure just once in the first quarter, Council scored five straight points early in the second quarter to give the Trojans a 17-16. He followed with 13 points in the second half. The junior guard converted one of two free throws with :37 to match Athena’s largest lead of the final stanza at 67-63.
“He’s just a hard cover because he’s tall, he’s long and he has a really good first step,” Setzer said. “He’s tough to keep in front of and he can shoot it.”
Melvin Council Jr. gets the tap in. 1:02 to go @GAHSBoysHoops 65 UPrep 63 pic.twitter.com/7F3QHNzcDJ
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) December 1, 2018
Athena needed every one of the points from Council and Reaves to hold off Lucas and the Griffins.
Two days after scoring 20 points in a 56-51 loss to Fairport, Lucas poured in 34, Friday night. The senior guard, who scored his 1,000th point in Wednesday’s loss, tallied seven straight late in the third quarter. His three ball from the top of the key gave the Griffins a 52-50 advantage, their first lead since 16-14.
Lucas scored nine of UPrep’s 16 points in the fourth quarter, but Athena answered every time.
Jakhi Lucas: hurt and harm. UPrep pulls within 5 at 38-33. pic.twitter.com/36s7f0lro7
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) December 1, 2018
“Our theme this year is we believe,” Setzer said. “It’s going to be on the back of our shooting shirts. We believe in ourselves. Even if others don’t, we believe. We’re not rebuilding. We’re reloading. Four starters (graduated), but tradition doesn’t graduate. We have a winning tradition here.”
Jones, Kubanka, Meisenzahl and Scantlebury led Athena to an 18-2 record in the regular season and the top seed in Class A1. The quartet averaged more than 50 points per game in leading the Trojans to their second straight appearance in the Class A1 finals.
“Those four seniors last year were incredible,” Setzer said. “We miss them, but we’re not as bad as people think we are. Kelvin Reaves was our seventh man. Melvin Council was our sixth man, and Johnny Salone was a starter. Now you see that we have some guys coming in.”
Terrell Wilson, Jr. finds Isaiah Brock underneath for 2. HALFTIME: @GAHSBoysHoops leads UPrep, 34-29. Melvin Council, Jr. leads the Trojans with 12 points. Kelvin Reaves 11. Jakhi Lucas leads UPrep 12 pic.twitter.com/A6bJVZWbWH
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) December 1, 2018
Athena led 34-29 at half. DeAndre Newsome finished a layup in traffic, and Reaves got ahead the defense for two more to give the Trojans their largest lead of the game at 38-29.
UPrep answered with six straight.
Krystain Lee converted a pair of free throws. Lucas scored on a drive, and Christian Jefferson-Edwards scored underneath to cut the margin to three.
Isaiah Brock (8), DeAndre Newsome (5), Jake Cerone (5), and Salone (2) rounded out the scoring for Athena (1-0).
Christian Jefferson-Edwards added 12 points for UPrep (0-3). Raekwon Dargan had eight points. Krystain Lee had five. Kayshawn Ross scored four, and Kendrick Cheyshad had three.
Athena hosts Pittsford-Mendon on Wednesday. UPrep plays at Jamesville-Dewitt next Friday.
Leave a Reply