Lakers Advance onto Conference Championship Semi-Finals
CANANDAIGUA – The Lakers – in Tuesday's MSAC Championship quarter-final matchup with Jefferson CC – moved on to play another day in this year's conference playoffs as they defeated the Cannoneers on their own court by a score of 68-52.
In the game, Finger Lakes had to overcome a sluggish first half shooting effort in order to earn the win. Trailing by as many as eleven points in the midway part of half number one – the Lakers would show great resiliency before the horn sounded for intermission.
Down 19-8 – Finger Lakes began chipping away at its first half deficit. A Trevor Sanders three-pointer kick started a 9-0 Laker run – cutting Jefferson's lead to 19-17. After reducing the Cannoneers lead to two points – a short while after – Finger Lakes would discover the lead for the first time in the game.
With Jefferson up one – 22-21 – with slightly over a minute remaining before halftime –sophomore Richard De La Cruz would become accountable for giving the home Lakers their first lead. With 1:05 left on the clock in the first half – the 6-foot-2-inch elusive scorer dialed up a two-point basket – putting the score at 23-22 in favor of Finger Lakes.
Jefferson – after De La Cruz's bucket – would reclaim the lead momentarily inside the minute marker by tallying two points. With just seconds to go before both teams headed to the locker rooms for halftime – Finger Lakes – down 24-23 – would end up maneuvering its way down the length of the court. The ball – in the hands of Lakers guard Kelvin Munoz – would discover the hoop just as the clock expired. Munoz would sprint to the hoop just in time to make a layup.
With Munoz's basket – the Lakers would carry a 25-24 lead heading into intermission.
In the beginning part of the second twenty minutes – both teams would go back and forth in the scoring table until the game clock had 12:36 remaining on it. Finger Lakes – leading 37-34 – would open up its largest lead (40-34) at that juncture – thanks to a Ben Wilburn made three-pointer.
The Lakers – who shot 48 percent from the floor in the final half – would start to build some momentum as the clock ticked away. With 8:05 left in the game – Finger Lakes would discover its first double-digit lead of the night. A Munoz three-point basket at that instance would give the Lakers a 51-40 advantage.
After going up eleven – Finger Lakes would continue to pad its double-digit lead before winning by 16.
The Lakers – in the win – registered four scorers in double figures. Leading the scoring column with a game-high 14 points for Finger Lakes was Sean Carbonell. Other Lakers that reached double-digits in points included De La Cruz (13 points), Dominique Higgins (12 points), and Munoz (10 points).
Carbonell – in addition to his points – pulled down a game-high 15 rebounds all while collecting a game-high 5 blocks. 8 of his 15 boards came on the offensive side of the glass.
Higgins – who played 39 minutes – added a game-high 9 assists all while tallying a game-high 3 steals.
Sanders chipped in with 3 three's and 9 points off of the bench for Finger Lakes.
Jefferson – in a losing effort – received a pair of 13-point showings from Derrick Williams and Andrew McNitt. McNitt matched his 13 points with 13 rebounds (team-high).
With the victory – the Lakers will now play in the conference championship semi-finals – which are scheduled to take place this Friday (2/22) on the campus of Tompkins Cortland CC (neutral site). On that day – starting at 7:00 p.m. – #2 Finger Lakes will matchup with #3 Cayuga CC.
The winner of Friday's game will then advance onto the championship game, where they will take on the winner of the #1 Tompkins Cortland/#4 Corning CC contest. The championship game is scheduled to take place at noon on Saturday (2/23) at the confines of Tompkins Cortland.