Both on and off the court, the Jamesville-DeWitt boys basketball team has needed to deal with more adversity that normal early in the 2010-11 season.
So it figured that the Red Rams would face a halftime deficit against Section V power Rush-Henrietta Saturday in the Peppino’s Invitational at Henninger High School. But led by DaJuan Coleman and Tyler Cavanaugh, J-D pulled through, earning a 71-66 victory over the Royal Comets.
The Rams began the week dealing with the loss of Demetrius Mitchell’s services. The 6-2 senior guard broke a bone in his foot early in the Rams’ Dec. 12 game against Elmira Southside in the Carrier Dome.
Early indications are that Mitchell will miss a month – possibly more. This leaves J-D with a small backcourt, with Davi Sacco and Brandon Franklin starting and freshman Jafar Kinsey right behind them – none of them taller than 5-11. This put more pressure on both Coleman and Cavanaugh to get those inside baskets whenever they got the ball.
That, plus seeing nearly a week of practice time lost due to winter snowstorms, gave J-D concerns as it made its way to Hennninger. Rush-Henrietta, from the Rochester suburbs, brought a solid roster that included Ashton Broyld, the 6-4 senior who, as a football quarterback, led the Royal Comets to the state Class AA championship a month ago.
Franklin replaced Mitchell in the starting five – and quickly got caught up in a close and exciting contest. The lead switched hands 11 times in the first quarter alone, so it figured that the Rams and Royal Comets were tied 18-18 at the end of that frame.
Led by Broyld, who accumulated 11 points in the first half, Rush moved out in front in the second period, leading by as much as five and taking a 32-28 edge to the half – this despite Coleman getting to 11 points with more control and poise than he showed at the Dome earlier in the week.
Having not trailed all season, J-D was properly alarmed – and scored the first eight points of the second half as part of a 10-2 run to move in front as Coleman and Cavanaugh accounted for six of those points. Overall, Coleman would finish with 22 points.
Still, Rush hung in there, trading baskets until it regained the lead, 50-48, just before the third quarter ended. Ultimately, J-D fell behind 54-50 with less than six minutes to play, and a rare regular-season defeat for the three-time state Class A champions looked quite possible.
Then Cavanaugh turned it around. His 3-pointer immediately cut the deficit to 54-53, and that, combined with Coleman’s three-point play with 4:55 left, put J-D ahead for good as it moved out to a 67-62 lead. Cavanaugh would get 10 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter.
Despite having two starters, Broyld and Brad Williams, foul out, Rush crept back within two, 68-66, with less than a minute to play and had a shot to tie it. But Bay Barley missed it, and with 33 seconds left Davi Sacco made two big free throws to double the margin to four. Franklin added another free throw with 15 seconds left, creating the final margin.
J-D is back on the court Tuesday to face East Syracuse-Minoa, then is off during the holiday break, not resuming until Jan. 5, when it makes up the twice-postponed meeting with Fowler just two days before its home showdown with CBA.
