BY PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Rochester City Athletic Conference (RCAC) title was already in hand when action tipped off Thursday night. East High had previously clinched the regular season championship and added to its list of program feats.
Any chance of that accomplishment leading to complacency was dismissed with the events on the court.
With less than six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, East trailed Monroe, 59-55. This appeared to be more acceptable than the nine-point deficit East faced at halftime or the 12-point hole the Eagles dug for themselves late in the second quarter.
A basket from Zion Parson had given the the home squad a brief lead late in the third quarter at 48-47.
As Monroe regained early in the fourth, it looked for a moment as if East had spent all its energy trying to get back in the game and had nothing left to take it.
That is until Talhah Ali decided to make his mark on the game.
Ali led a late rally and East (12-4) closed out Monroe (10-5), 72-64.
“They were taking the game and we were letting them,” Ali said. “We had to battle back, be aggressive. We had to battle. I told my guys we have to battle.”
With the scored tied at 64 and less than 90 seconds remaining in the game, Ali forced a turnover and then won possession of the ball on the floor.
Coming out of a timeout, the senior guard converted a rebound and putback to give East a lead it did not surrender at 66-64. The basket was the first of eight straight points to finish the game.
“It feels amazing,” he said. “A lot of emotions are going around. It was senior night. The crowd was loud, a lot of emotions, and we took care of business.”
On the ensuing possession, Zion Parson stepped into a passing lane for a steal that he converted into a layup. What appeared to be an insurmountable deficit had turned into an advantage.
“We just locked in the last two minutes of the game and played to the best of our capabilities,” Parson said. “We had to do everything we could to get the job done. That’s what we did.”
The rally harkened back to East teams of the past – the program that has 27 sectional titles to its name but has gone three years without adding to that number.
And it all started with Ali.
“He brings a different dimension to our program, something that we haven’t had in a while” East High head coach Darrell Barley said of Ali who transferred from Rush-Henrietta prior to this school year. “We had a lot of smooth players that could score. Now we got some more grit. He brings a lot of grit to the team. He stepped us those last two to three minutes. He did a great job making those gritty plays.”
Monroe’s John Hardy scored 13 of his team-high 17 points in the first half to help stake the Redjackets to a 38-29 lead after 16 minutes of play.
“Those guys came to play,” Barley said of Monroe. “Coach (Terrell Cunningham) did a good job of getting those guys inspired to come after us. They were physical. We didn’t match their intensity in the first half.”
A Tahj Holmes 3-pointer gave Monroe a 43-32 lead early in the third quarter.
East responded with five straight points and did not allow the game to get back double digits again. The Eagles held Monroe to three field goals over the final eight minutes of play.
“I think we tired them out,” Barley said. “We were able to get into passing lanes, just getting after it. That’s what we try to preach. Those were some of the things that we lacked in the last couple of years. We had some really good players, but we weren’t as aggressive as our guards are now. They’re a bit more physical. They do the little things. That’s what you need to win.”
Norman Simmons led East with 19 points. Parson had 17. Ali scored 10.
Holmes had 15 points for Monroe. Brien Walker scored 12. Navareon Patton added 11.
East hosts Vertus in its regular season finale on Saturday. An 11:30 a.m. tip off is scheduled.
Monroe welcomes World of Inquiry for an 11:00 a.m. game on Saturday.
MONROE (10-5)
Navareon Patton 2 6-9 11, Tahj Holmes 6 0-0 15, John Hardy 7 3-4 17, Jordan Reis 3 2-2 9, Ardon Thomas 0 0-0 0, Brien Walker 4 4-8 12 TOTALS 22 15-23 — 64
EAST HIGH (12-4)
Norman Simmons 8 2-4 19, Timothy Reed 2 0-0 6, Talhah Ali 4 2-5 10, Xavier McDonald 1 0-0 2, Jalen Gray 3 0-0 8, Zion Parson 8 1-2 17, Jeremy Quinn 1 0-0 2, Ace Thomas 0 0-0 0, Eric Jones 3 1-2 7 TOTALS 30 6-13 — 72
MONROE 18 20 14 12 — 64
EAST HIGH 15 14 21 22 — 72
3-point goals: MONROE 5 (Patton 1, Holmes 3, Reis 1); EAST 6 (Simmons 2, Reed 2, Gray 2).
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