JOHNSTOWN – The Lakers of Finger Lakes CC and the FM Raiders met for a non-conference contest in the Raiders Den on Saturday afternoon. The visitors entered the game ranked #2 in Region 3 while the Raiders were ranked #4. FM led 52-50 early in the second half, but the Lakers pulled away for an 86-70 win.
Marquis Edwards scored the game's first points with a high-arc jumper over FLCC's 6' 5" Ray Sims. The visitors quickly answered with two points, but then Jonathan Brioso took an inbounds pass from Tyrone Davis and got FM back on top.
Photo: Marquis Edwards nets the game's first goal
Play continued at a fast pace. Two good teams were giving all-out efforts. Edwards passed to Jordan Stewart, who fed Barceem Dukes, and FM led 12-9. The Lakers came right back and sank a three-pointer. Tied game.
Dondre Davis scored. Shaleeq Randolph fed Kyle Giddings, who scored. Giddings scored again after grabbing a rebound, but the visitors held a 21-18 lead after eight minutes of play. The fans were seeing well-played hoops.
The Lakers increased their lead to five points, but Edwards shortened that lead with a tally from beyond the arc. The Raider defense stopped a Lakers' play and got the ball to Raheem Small. Small sprinted 75 feet, leaped, and drove home a two-handed dunk to tie the game at 23-23. (See photo at the bottom of this webpage.)
Photo: Jonathan Brioso scoring early in the game
FLCC's defense tightened, and the visitors started to build a lead. Dukes was fouled hard and crashed to the floor by the Laker bench, but he got up and sank two free throws. 36-27 Finger Lakes.
Stewart drove the baseline for two, but a Laker basket gave the visitors a 15-point lead. FM missed some shots, but Stewart sank a trey. 50-38. Edwards dived for the ball and, while down on the hardwood, passed to Tyrone Davis, who passed to Stewart, who scored again. The halftime score was 50-40, but FM's late scoring momentum carried over into the second half.
FM was the hot team when the second half began. Small drove for two. Stewart sank a three-pointer. Brioso scored. Edwards tallied a three from the right corner, and the Raiders had tied the game by scoring 10 unanswered points. Tyrone Davis drove for the basket and sent a short pass to Brioso for two more points. FM led 52-50.
Twice FLCC had built good leads, and twice FM had come back to tie the game. But when the Lakers built a third lead of 80-64, the FM squad was unable to close the gap. The final score was 86-70.
The Raiders now enter their holiday break with a winning record of 7-4 overall and 2-1 in the Mountain Valley Conference. The Lakers are 10-2. FM's season will resume on January 8 with a 6:00 p.m. game at Herkimer CCC.
Click here or go to the Multimedia page for a three-minutes of highlights of this game and the Delhi game.
C.J. Bonny, website writer
Scoring:
Finger Lakes CC: Banks 6-10-22, Robinson 1-2-4, Verkey 4-2-14, Bullock 3-4-13, Lacey 0-2-2, Wright 1-2-4, Lewis 6-5-17, Faust 4-0-1; Total 86
Fulton-Montgomery: Stewart 4-0-10, Akinmola 2-1-5, Darnley 3-0-6, Dukes 1-2-4, Giddings 6-0-12, D. Davis 3-0-6, Edwards 2-2-10,Small 2-0-4, Brioso 4-0-8, T. Davis 1-1-5; Total 70
3-point goals: Finger Lakes 9 (Verkey 4, Bullock 3, Faust 2), FMCC 5 (Stewart 2, Edwards 2, T. Davis)
Halftime: Finger Lakes 50-FMCC 40
Photo: Raheem Small emphatically tied the game at 23-23
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