It wasn’t easy, but the Golden Eagles were able to rally to a 71-67 victory Wednesday night. The win pushed Brockport’s record to 2-1 overall on the season. Brockport Head Coach Greg Dunne had high praise for his team postgame.
“A lot of toughness,” Dunne said. “That’s a really good basketball team, they’re going to win in a lot of games this year so that’s a big win for us.”
Brockport found themselves trailing 33-32 at the break after a back-and-forth affair to start. Brockport’s second leading scorer Jahidi Wallace found himself in early foul trouble, picking up three in the first half. Without Wallace and with leading scorer Mekhi Beckett enduring a 2-8 start from the field, it was David Grady and Tony Arnold who kept the Golden Eagles in striking distance.
Out of the break, both teams traded runs and found themselves knotted at 48 with 9:48 to play. From there, Colby Jordan came alive.
“In a timeout we challenged Colby Jordan a little bit and boy did he step up to it,” Dunne said.
Jordan led an 11-3 run, scoring nine to give Brockport their biggest lead of the game at eight. The margin remained stagnant between six and eight until Wallace was whistled for his fifth and final foul driving to the basket on a transition opportunity. Wallace was then called for a technical foul as he debated the call heading to the bench. Dunne, looking for an explanation, then received a technical of his own. Wallace in total would finish with just two points in 11 minutes.
“First time I’ve ever seen a preseason All-American play six minutes on his home court and foul out,” Dunne said. “I’m super proud of our guys for not allowing that to put us in a situation that put us in a hole.”
Following the parade of free throws, the Statesmen trailed by just two points heading down the stretch. While it was overall a rough shooting night for him, Brockport’s lead man came alive late. Beckett drilled a three-pointer with 2:49 to play to push the lead back to six. With the margin back to three, he drilled a step back mid-range jumper with 21 seconds left to essentially put the game away. Beckett nailed three out of four free throws late to seal the victory.
Grady led the Golden Eagles with 21 points on 9-12 from the field. Beckett still managed 14 points and six boards but shot just 4-13. Jordan and Arnold meanwhile combined for 21 points and five assists in the back court.
“One of our leading scorers (Wallace) got in foul trouble early, our other two leading scorers tried today to be aggressive and pick up a little bit of slack,” Grady said. “I knew it was a bigger team and a better team, so I had to step up as a senior.”
The Green and Gold will return to action Tuesday when they visit York College.
