CANANDAIGUA – The Herkimer Generals were seeded #1 in the Region 3 championship tournament, and the Raiders were seeded #8. Despite the disparity in records and ranking, FM tends to match up well with Herkimer, and that was the case on Friday evening. The Raiders trailed by just two points, at 41-39, with less than 12 minutes remaining before a Herkimer surge secured the win for the Generals.
The game was the third meeting for the two teams this season. Both of the previous contests were close, hard-fought games. Herkier won each of those games by a single point.
As Friday's game got under way, three-pointers by Jordan Stewart and Marquis Edwards staked FM to a 10-6 lead.
The Generals took a modest lead that they expanded to eight points, at 27-19, but a layup by Barceem Dukes, a free throw by Jordan, and then six points by Raheem Small (layup, three-pointer, and FT) closed the score to 31-28, which was the score when the teams left the court at halftime.
Herkimer moved to a 41-35 lead after the break. Tyrone Davis sank a three. Kyle Giddings sank a free throw, and the score was 41-39. It was still 41-39 with 11:24 to play when Herkimer started to increase their lead. The Raiders were unable to keep pace with the Generals in those final minutes. The #1-seeded team won the game 65-50.
Herkimer will play Finger Lakes CC in the semifinals on Saturday. The Lakers defeated Delhi 96-77 on Friday. The tournament brackets are available on the Region 3 website.
The Raiders finished their winning season with a 15-13 record. It was a season with many fine memories for the team to carry with them until next year.
Scoring:
FMCC: Stewart 3-1-9, Giddings 4-1-9, M. Edwards 1-3-6, Small 2-3-8, T. Davis 2-2-8, Akinmola 0-1-1, Randolph 1-1-3, Dukes 1-0-2, Brioso 2-0-4; Totals 16-12-50
Three-point goals: 6 (Stewart 2, Edwards, Small, Davis 2)
Herkimer: Murphy 3-4-11, Johnson 6-2-16, Tarver 1-0-3, Woodard 7-2-16, Langhorne 1-0-2, Galay 2-1-5, Owens 4-1-10, Huggins 1-0-2; Totals 25-10-65
Three-point goals: 5 (Murphy, Johnson 2, Tarver, Owens)
FMCC 28-22-50
HCCC 31-34-65
Records: FMCC 15-13, Herkimer 27-3
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