MORGANVILLE, NJ–On Sunday night, GMC Hoops caught the last 22:15 of action in the MJBL Spring League contest between the Monroe Falcons and Howell Hurricanes of the league’s West Division.
Monroe, which swept a doubleheader of games at the MJBL on Saturday to improve to 7-0, held a 25-22 lead with 2:15 to go in the half, but the Howell Hurricanes put together a 21-11 surge over the next 12:45 to take a 43-36 lead with under 10 minutes to play.
To their credit, the Falcons battled back by scoring 19 of the next 32 points thanks to scores by Kevin Shea, Kenny Synsyn, Hassan Reid, and AK Patel as well as free throws by Patel, Reid, and Mike Kides to pull within one with a little over a minute remaining.
However, Howell managed to hang on by making three free throws over the final 50 seconds or so, and survived a last second scoring attempt by Monroe to win the game, 59-55. Below are game notes from the action:
First Half
2:15–Arrive with Monroe leading 25-22.
1:30–MON–hangs on to a three point lead at 29-26 on a putback by AK Patel and a score by Hassan Reid.
56.3–HH–nets a three from left side to tie score at 29-29.
36.0–MON–takes a 30-29 lead after a steal for a layup attempt by Luke Patel that drew a foul and resulted in one of two free throws. Reid got offensive rebound in missed FT, but Falcons couldn’t cash in.
0.0–HH–unable to score before the half and MON leads 30-29 at the break.
Second Half
19:27–HH–score for a 31-30 lead.
17:46–MON–4-0 run including a layup by Hassan Reid for a 34-31 lead.
16:26–HH–takes a 35-34 lead on scores at 16:56 and 16:26 marks.
11:30–HH–goes on a 6-0 run after falling behind 36-35 highlighted by a layup for a score for a 41-36 lead.
10:17–HH–timeout after MON layups by Kevin Shea and Kenny Synsyn ended an 8-0 run for a 43-40 HH lead.
9:13–MON–timeout after a score by Falcons closes gap to one at 45-44.
8:36–MON–Eric Johnson feeds a cutting Peter Nesti for layup and a 46-45 lead.
8:24–HH–layup for a 47-46 lead.
5:56–HH–trey from left wing for a 50-46 lead.
2:13–MON trails 52-48 after both teams exchange scores.
1:03–MON–pulls within one at 56-55 after going 7 of 7 from foul line including 2 FTs by AK Patel, 2 FTs by Hassan Reid and 3 FTs by Mike Kides
56.3–HH–fouled on floor
52.0–HH–fouled on floor
45.0–HH–fouled and makes one of two FTs for a 57-55 lead.
15.9–HH–swipes steal and calls timeout.
14.1–HH–fouled and missed front end of bonus, but got offensive board and drew another foul.
10.6–MON–calls timeout after getting rebound of missed FT.
1.3–HH–gets fouled on rebound off missed layup by MON. Made both ends of bonus for a 59-55 lead.
0.0–MON–misses three at buzzer. HH wins 59-55