JOHNSTOWN – The Twins of Columbia-Greene CC were on a mission when they entered the Raiders Den on Saturday afternoon. It was the last regular season game for both teams. FM had already won 15 games and a berth in the Region 3 championship tournament. Columbia-Greene, however, needed a win in order to avoid the possibility of a play-in game. The Twins got the win that they wanted, downing FM 62-56.
The Raiders had won when the same two teams met in January on the Twins' home hardwood, but Saturday's contest belonged to the visitors.
Photo: Jordan Stewart scoring – Stewart led the Raiders with 13 points and 13 rebounds on Saturday
The first half was a low scoring affair. Both teams were defending aggressively, and both teams initially had trouble scoring. After five minutes of play, the Raiders had scored only two baskets: a three-pointer by Jordan Stewart and a rebound tally by Raheem Small.
Photo: Kyle Giddings scores after taking a feed from Shaleek Randolph
The Twins were maintaining a slim lead, but two free throws by Stewart put FM ahead 14-13. The Raiders led for a few minutes, but then Columbia-Greene's Jordan Hoose went high for a two-handed dunk that knotted the game at 18-18.
Hoose dunked again to put the Twins up 24-22. The half ended with the unusually low score of 26-24 with the visitors on top.
The Twins led 35-26 early in the second half. The Raiders fought back, and a powerful drive by Small shaved the gap to 44-40 with 9:03 to play, but the Twins held on, with aggressive defending and fierce shot blocking.
Columbia-Greene led by eight when Shaleek Randolph's long drive made it 52-46 with 4:18 remaining. Courtney Darnley's three-pointer from the left side closed the score to 53-49 with 2:46 left.
Raider Ayodele Akinmola went coast to coast to again bring FM within four points, at 57-53 with 24.8 seconds left, but the home team could get no closer. The final score was 62-56.
Photo: Courtney Darnley tallies a three late in the second half
Both teams will now await the seeding announcement for the Region 3 tourney. The seedings should be announced early in the coming week. It is likely that FM will receive the #6 seed, with Columbia-Greene being seeded #7. There are 17 teams in the region, and the top eight qualify for the tourney, which will be played at Finger Lakes CC in Canandaigua. This website will publish those seedings as soon as they are known.
Sophomores Honored
The Raiders are losing eight sophomores to graduation. (See photo at the bottom of this webpage.) The eight were honored prior to Saturday's game. They will be missed. Further, Raider fans are well aware that these talented sophomores were key to the current team winning six more games and losing four fewer than the 2013-14 Raiders.
C.J. Bonny, website writer
Scoring:
Columbia-Greene: Rodriguez 3-6-12, Fortes 1-6-8, Edwards 2-1-5, Elmendorf 2-2-8, Hoose 8-2-18, Spohler 4-0-11; Totals 20-17-62
Three-point goals: 5 (Spohler 3, Elmendorf 2)
Fulton-Montgomery: Stewart 4-4-13, Akinmola 2-0-4, Randolph 4-0-9, Darnley 3-0-7, Dukes 1-0-2, Giddings 3-0-6, M. Edwards 1-2-5, Small 5-0-10; Totals 23-6-56
Three-point goals: 4 (Stewart, Randolph, Darnley, Edwards)
Halftime: CG 26 – FM 24
Records: Columbia-Greene 17-12 (11-7), Fulton-Montgomery 15-12 (9-9)
Photo, from left, the Raider sophomores and coaches: Asst. Coaches Dan Schulz and Arturo Mcleod, Vince Young, Tyrone Davis, Raheem Small, Dondre Davis, Jordan Stewart, Marquis Edwards, Shaleek Randolplh, Kyle Giddings, Head Coach Ed Collar, Asst. Coach Kevin Kucel
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