By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Matt McCormick has known a fair share of halftime talks during his tenure at Monroe High School.
And the 19th-year head coach understands that aside from a couple tweaks here and there, the focus of those discussions comes down to a couple basic principles.
On Thursday night, McCormick’s Redjackets nearly fell victim to overlooking fundamentals.
Jaquan Shears led four in double figures as Monroe built a 16-point lead at halftime and held on to beat School of the Arts (SOTA), 80-75 in Rochester City Athletic Conference (RCAC) action.
VIEW MORE PHOTOS FROM DENNIS JOYCE HERE.
Tied at 26 midway through the second quarter, Shears was one of five who found the bottom of the net in a 20-4 run to close the half.
“The defensive intensity was there,” McCormick said Monroe’s full-court press that keyed the decisive run. “We tried to make them uncomfortable all night. Our pressure up top was good.”
Ronnie Moore came off the bench and connected on a 3-pointer to snap the tie and give Monroe a lead it did not relinquish. Felton Gray followed with a free-throw line jumper. DaiQuon McKinney sandwiched a Shears bucket with a pair from distance. Shears scored again inside before Gray capped the half with a traditional three-point play.
While Monroe (2-0) did not allow SOTA t make it a single-possession for the remainder of the contest, the Redjackets found themselves having to defend a five-point lead late in the fourth quarter.
Jaquan Shears gets the baseline. pic.twitter.com/rfRoSjU5fD
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) December 9, 2022
“Every halftime it comes down to the same message: rebounding and free throws,” McCormick stated. “And when you don’t do those two things, any team can come back on you. They did. We’re just lucky that we made a couple plays down the stretch, important plays. That could’ve gotten away from us there, big time.”
SOTA’s Sam Howland scored 14 of his game-high 30 points in the second half, and teammate Tyree Moore added 19 of his 24 points. Howland’s layup with less than a minute remaining in the game made it a five-point game at 78-73.
“Our second wave of what I call a secondary runback,” McCormick said of Monroe’s press. “That next run, we need to tighten that up because they got loose for a lot of layups.”
Shears scored six points over the final eight minutes to keep the home-opening win intact.
“They were playing a 3-2 zone, and they weren’t giving him anything on the baseline,” McCormick said of the senior forward. “He was still able to get stuff done.
“Getting him around the rim, he just gets his body square to the basket eventually. He can be 180 and as soon as he gets his body square, he elevates so high that it’s really kinda hard to stop.”
McKinney scored 17 points in the win. Gray had 15 while Davion Jones scored 13. Casimer Bradford-Sawyer contributed four points.
SOTA’s Howland had 12 assists, four rebounds, four steals and a block. Moore grabbed 11 boards to go with three assists and three steals. Aness Jaff finished with nine points and 13 rebounds. Latrell Ingram (6), Ishmael Gonzalez (4) and Quincy St. Louis (2) also scored for SOTA (2-1).
The game pitted McCormick against former assistant coach Tim Lewis who is in first year on the sidelines for SOTA.
Monroe will travel to Franklin for a 6:30 p.m. tip off next Tuesday.
SOTA will play at Brockport next Monday. A 7:30 start time is slated.
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