By Rob Potter
MONTICELLO — January 18, 2011 — The Monticello Panthers outscored the visiting Port Jervis Red Raiders 21-4 in the second quarter of Thursday night’s Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association (OCIAA) Division III basketball game.
The Panthers’ performance in those eight minutes helped them turn a seven-point lead after the first quarter into a commanding 39-15 advantage at halftime.
Monticello went on to record a 66-37 victory.
In the first six minutes of the second period, the Panthers went on a 14-2 scoring run. Anthony Gray started the run with a fast break layup 18 seconds into the quarter. Less than a minute passed before Kenny Sanders Jr. converted an old-fashioned 3-point play by making a free throw after being fouled while scoring a basket.
Later in the quarter, within the span of one minute, Shamell Moore made a 3-point play on a fast break, Jesse Kapito swished a 3-point shot and Sanders knocked down a baseline jumper. Those baskets gave Monticello (5-4, 2-1 Div. III) a 34-13 lead with 1:32 remaining until halftime.
The Panthers began the third period with a 9-0 run, including a 3-point shot by Moore, to extend their lead to 48-15 with 4:40 left in the stanza.
Sanders scored a game-high 19 points to lead Monticello to the win. Moore and Austin Billig also reached double figures for the Panthers by netting 18 points and 11 points, respectively.
Grey finished with six points for the Panthers.
“This was a good bounce back win for us after the loss at Cornwall on Tuesday night,” said Monticello Coach Chris Russo, referring to his team’s 61-47 defeat at the hands of the Dragons two nights earlier in a key Div. III contest. “Getting a win in the division tonight was important. We played good defense and rebounded well.”
Russo noted that it was nice that all of his players got some playing time in the game. Senior guard Marcus Daniels-Penn came off the bench and scored a basket late in the fourth quarter that elicited one of the loudest cheers of the evening from the home crowd.
“He’s a crowd favorite,” Russo said. “Marcus played two years on JV and this is his second year on varsity. He doesn’t get a lot of playing time, but he works hard. He played well tonight.”
Davon Adamson led Port Jervis (0-11, 0-3 Div. III) with 11 points. Teammates Seneca Brewington and Dante Lopez added six points and five points, respectively.
“We’re very young and very inexperienced,” Port Jervis Coach Brian Rollman said. “We have three sophomores who started tonight. We had five players graduate, three transferred out of the district and our true point guard shattered his knee.
“These guys are working hard to improve,” he added. “Everybody is doing their best.”