The Men's Basketball team picked up two more Region 3 wins over the weekend. The Raiders move to 17-3 overall and are on a 9-game winning streak. They are currently 2nd in the Region 3 standings, behind Herkimer and ranked #10 in the NJCAA DIII Rankings.
The Raiders hosted #11 Genesee Community College on Saturday. The Cougars invaded the Raiders Den with just one Region 3 loss on the season.
Both teams battled evenly to start the first half. Mid-way through the half, Kennyh Hardeman converted on back-to-back three-point plays and the Raiders took a 24-19 lead. Nahjhime Kirton dominated to close out the half scoring six straight points and FMCC led, 43-35.
Genesee came out of the half with the hot shooting hand and cut the FM lead to 59-53 with 14 minutes to play. Jordan Jackson and Hardeman extended the Raider lead to 10; 66-56. At the 10 minute mark, Donovan Rodriguez drilled a three pointer and Kirton converted on a jumper to extend the lead, 75-60.
Jackson and Rodriguez continued their hot shooting to close out the game and the Raiders were victorious, 101-89.
All five starters had big games for FMCC. Hardeman had 25 points and 13 rebounds, Kirton with 23 points and 15 rebounds and Rodriguez with 22 points and 6 assists. Jordan Jackson had 19 and Schumel Shepherd with 12 points to round out double-figure scoring.
On Sunday, FMCC turned right back around to make the long road trip to Corning Community College. The Raiders came out firing on all cylinders, and defeated the Red Barons, 116-69.
Kennyh Hardeman led with 22 points and 15 rebounds and Jordan Jackson with 16 points and 6 assists. Matej Gasevic came off the bench with 12 points, shooting 5-5 from the field.
"We had a stretch of 8 games in 12 days which obviously is tough on any basketball team. I'm very proud of how my guys came ready to play each game and accepted the challenge. We have a team that is very talented individually at every position. I think what we are starting to see now is that everyone is sacrificing a little bit individually, for the success of the team. The best compliment of a basketball team is being fun to watch, we still have a lot of work to do, but when these guys are all on the same page, they are becoming really fun to watch." said Head Coach Ej Gallup.
The Raiders are red hot, coming off eight wins in twelve days. Their next contest will be on Saturday, February 10th, when they host Broome Community College at 1:00 p.m.
