JCC men’s hoops earns spot in conference postseason tournament

A team desperate for a victory to continue its season often finds a little extra to get over the hump.

The Jefferson Community College men’s basketball team was in just such a bind Saturday, knowing it had to beat visiting Corning CC in its final regular-season game just to earn a spot in next weekend’s Mid-State Athletic Conference Tournament.

And knowing that a victory could also keep JCC’s hopes alive for a possible berth in the Region 3, Division III Tournament, which the Cannoneers will host again March 2-4.

The Cannoneers defeated the Red Barons, 84-56, on Senior Day, after going on a 20-0 second-half run to expand a tenuous 38-34 halftime edge. Sophomores Jabriel Blue and Tom Kelso, playing possibly their final home games, led the Cannoneers (14-13 overall, 7-5 conference) with 24 and 23 points, respectively.

Blue said there was no way he was ending his JCC career with a home loss.

“We just came out a lot more aggressive the second half, especially on defense,’’ said Blue, who leads the MSAC in scoring for the second straight season. “They went 5-for-7 on threes the first half, and we were determined to shut that down.’’

Corning CC (10-15, 5-7) was only 3-for-10 from beyond the arc the second half, and shot a woeful 15.6 percent from the floor against JCC’s ball-hawking, man-to-man defense.

And while Corning CC was struggling from the field the final 20 minutes, JCC was on fire. The Cannoneers shot 62 percent (19-of -29) and converted lots of turnovers (20) into easy hoops.

“At halftime we talked about how our body language didn’t look good,’’ said Kelso, the Ogdensburg product who scored 15 second-half points and grabbed 11 rebounds. “We came out really ready to get tough on defense, and that kick-started our offense.’’

JCC led just 46-40 when it began a spurt that lasted eight minutes. Kelso scored nine points and Blue contributed six as the Cannoneers scored 20 consecutive points, taking a 66-40 lead.

The Red Barons finally scored again with 8:05 left, but by that time they were in a deep hole.

“That’s about as well as we can play,’’ JCC coach Charlie Bridge III said. “The first half we were going a little too fast and not making good decisions. Once we slowed down and just played under control, we began pulling away.’’

Matt Johnson added 11 points for JCC, which will be either the third or fourth seed in the MSAC Tournament, depending on how Onondaga CC did on Saturday.

Cayuga CC is the top seed and will host the two-day tournament beginning Saturday.

“We feel really good about the tournament because we split with both Cayuga and Tompkins-Cortland (No. 2 seed) during the season,’’ Bridge said. “And one of those games was without James (Blue).’’

The sophomore point guard missed five games while sorting out some personal issues, and JCC went only 1-4 in that stretch.

James Blue scored nine points and dished out seven assists on Saturday.

“We know we can beat all of those teams, so we’ll go into the tournament pretty confident,’’ Jabriel Blue said. “If we play like we did the second half today, we can definitely beat anybody.’’

Bridge said the key to JCC moving on in the postseason is “executing like we did today, and keeping our composure. If we do that, we could be a difficult matchup.’’

Dewan Bohannon led Corning CC with 16 points.

CORNING CC WOMEN 37, Jefferson CC 31

The Cannoneers saw their season end with a miserable shooting performance.

JCC (6-21, 4-8) shot a woeful 16.7 percent from the floor, making only 9-of-54 shots. Corning CC (17-9, 8-4) wasn’t much better, hitting 19 percent, but it did make eight 3-pointers.

Joelle Percy scored 13 points and Morgan Kiernan 12 for JCC.