Well then.
Those who were frequent visitors to the men's division games this season expected mainly the same outcomes - Utica Select's talent to outdo local Hard 2 Guard, and top-seeded Motivated to impose their will on a Generals team that beat them earlier in the season. The 200 in attendance got half of that.
Hard 2 Guard, with mainly Utica players, jumped on not so local Utica Select early and was able to hold off the higher side to get the win, even having to fight back when Select took a quick lead in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. They shot over 75% from inside the 3 point line in the 1st quarter, where they took a 32-24 lead. Former Utica Proctor and Jefferson CC standout Collis Maddox was an early spark, scoring 9 of his 15 in the 1st. The 5-2 Utica Select was able to climb back into it in the 2nd behind hot shooting from EJ Gallup. The Coastal Carolina product, known for his perimeter shooting prowess, scored 19 of his 25 points in the 1st half. 15 of them came off of 5 threes, only missing a pair of them in the process. Even with Demetris Nichols, Mark Lyons, Lonnie Hayes, Adam Kemp, and Rashaun Freeman not in attendance for Select, it seemed once they drew within 1 at half, their 6 would get the job done. It seemed more so when they were the aggressors out of the gate in the 2nd half, taking a lead on an Edwin Ubiles dunk early in the 3rd quarter. Hard 2 Guard hung tough in the regular season game as well before Utica Select simply imposed their will - the local boys weren't having it tonight. They continued to scrap and despite St. Bonaventure rising sophomore Denzel Gregg's 10 3rd quarter points, Hard 2 Guard remained within 1 point with a quarter to play. Hard 2 Guard was able to slow the Select charge in the 4th, holding them to 18 points. T'Andre Richardson was the X-factor in this game for Hard 2 Guard - they're a formidable team when he gives them quality production in the post. Quality is a good word to describe his performance on this night, scoring 10 of his game- and career-high 28 points in the 4th quarter. He added 7 rebounds and shot 12/16 from the field. Hard 2 Guard held just a 3 point lead with 26 seconds left, but a putback on a miss pushed it to 5. After a missed Utica Select three, Richardson leaked out for a dunk to seal the game. They had more than just T'Andre, though. Maurice Mills, former Proctor standout now at Nazareth, added 24 points and 9 rebounds. Between those two, Maddox, and Walkery Mills, 79 of their 92 points came from Proctor graduates. Utica Select, who lost 124-120 in the championship game last season, take an unexpected early exit. Gallup led them with 25, and Gregg added 23. Tyquon Stroman had 15, but only 2 came in the 2nd half. Hard 2 Guard was able to hold former Siena standout Edwin Ubiles to 11 points on 5/15 shooting. The #6 seed moves onto semifinals, where they will play the winner of Lo Entertainment and defending champion Upstate Swagger on Friday night.
The nightcap... certainly was a sleeper. Lacked the intrigue of Monday's opener. The Generals were the #8 seed and had lost 4 straight, but had some confidence: their 2 wins on the season were against the top 2 seeds. Motivated, the #1 seed, is back to full strength with the return of Brandon Triche and Alshwan Hymes, and they're looking to finally get an elusive King of Kings men's title. They announced those plans loudly with a 111-79 thumping of their opponents, a game that was as close as 14 in the 3rd quarter, but never felt in danger. Motivated did it in every way possible, including outdoing The Generals at their own game - shooting the cheese. Hymes, a Canisius product by way of Jamesville-Dewitt, hit 10 of his team's 18 threes on the night and had 36 points, a King of Kings season high. 4 came in the 2nd quarter, where their team extended the lead to 56-37 by halftime. Brandon Triche (feel free to ask Google if you don't know where he played) had a rare triple-double with 20 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists. 8 of those assists came in the first half. A quick 8-0 spurt from The Generals ending with a Reggie German three brought them within 14 at 63-49 early in the 3rd, but that's the closest they would get. Motivated would score the next 11 and it was no longer close. It turned into a dunk contest in the last couple minutes, and was called with a little over a minute on the clock. The top seed showed their dominance and flexed a little bit heading into semifinals. They will play again in semifinals on Friday, facing the winner of Hoopsfiend Select and Syracuse Elite.
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