Maybe it was the right time to do so, but there’s little doubting what the Jamesville-DeWitt boys basketball team accomplished during last Tuesday night’s visit to Utica Proctor.
In a gymnasium where few road teams ever prevail, the state Class A no. 1-ranked Red Rams continued to dazzle, beating the Raiders 79-64 in a game far closer, in the end, than it actually played.
Proctor made the last three Section III Class AA finals and won in both 2006 and ’07. But the main force behind those titles, Deandre Preaster, graduated, and the Raiders have started 3-2 while trying to move ahead without Preaster.
What set J-D off in this, its fourth consecutive road game, was the way it played in the first quarter. True, the Red Rams took the lead, but its slim 16-12 margin did not sit well with head coach Bob McKenney, and he let his players know it.
The second quarter proved decisive. With depth and finishing ability, J-D outscored the Raiders 31-14 in that frame, then continued until it had put together a 53-26 run over the game’s middle periods.
Brandon Triche, with 22 points, led the charge, as DaJuan Coleman added 11 points and Alshwan Hymes got 10 points. Zach Firestone had eight points as Jailaan Kinsey, Demetrius Mitchell and Steven Thomson each had six points. For Proctor, Collis Maddox had 18 points and T’Andre Richardson added 14 points.
On Sunday, J-D begins play in the Stop-DWI Tournament in Binghamton against Franklin County, an opponent from Kentucky, and will play twice more in the days that follow.
