Kingston captures Senior Night victory
Moore, Wright, Moot, Thomas lift Tigers to OCIAA victory over Monroe-Woodbury
KINGSTON, N.Y. » Kingston High was clicking on all cylinders Friday night, but needed to find another gear in the second half to pull away for an 80-63 boys basketball victory over Monroe-Woodbury on Senior Night.
Brian Moore connected for 29 points, including six 3-point field goals, Chris Wright hit for 20, Jimmy Moot scored 12 and Damani Thomas had 10 to lead the (13-4) Tigers. Kingston shared the ball as Wright and Moore each had five assists and Wright four.
“I expected (Monroe) to be scrappy and I expected them to compete, but I knew that they had a game yesterday, so I wanted to keep the tempo really fast,” Kingston coach Ron Kelder said. “I wanted to try and wear them down as much as possible. I thought we did that.”
With the Crusaders having only one big man, Kingston started two big men in Moot and Daivel Jackson, then rotated them. Fritz Genther and
Tyquan Watson both provided valuable minutes off the bench. The bench is still short with Thomas Huleatt and Garrett Warnecke out, but both are expected back next week.
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Thomas and Moore put Kingston in charge in the first quarter. Moore buried a trey to end the first quarter with the Tigers up 23-15.
Kingston opened the second
quarter with Moot rebounding his own miss and scoring on the putback, Wright connecting off a Moore assist, then Wright kicking out to Thomas for another 3-pointer.
That gave the Tigers their biggest lead of the half at 30-15.
The (8-8) Crusaders played Kingston evenly the rest of the half and trailed 43-31 at the break. Fueled by the play of Brandon Adams and Robert Vacco, Monroe went on a 14-4 run to start the second half to slash away at the Tigers’ lead.
Vacco had 17 and Adams 13 to lead Monroe.
“There were a few shots that just didn’t go in in the beginning of the second half and it gave them an opportunity to get back into it,” Kelder said. “I think we let our guard down a little bit defensively on their guards and they were getting some penetration.”
Adams’ basket with 1:29 left in the third quarter closed the gap to 4745. Wright elevated in the lane and leaned into a short jumper to stop the surge. A 3-pointer by Moore and another basket from Wright in
the final 45 seconds of the period put Kingston ahead 54-48.
The Tigers found that other gear in the fourth, scoring 26 points. They scored on seven consecutive possessions and 10 of 11 in the final six minutes to pull away. That balanced final stretch featured eight points from Moore and six each from Wright and Moot.
“I think sometimes with this team, that fear of losing comes in. We talked about that a little bit,” Kelder noted.
“We just got a little stale
offensively a couple of times, just trying to create our own stuff. Once we got out of that and we started to push the ball again, good things happen,” he added. “When we get our guards with the motor pushing the ball like that up the floor, we’re pretty tough to stop.
“We got the tempo where we wanted it. That was crucial for this game — a home game against an opponent that’s beaten some quality teams,” Kelder said.
Before the game, seniors Wright, Thomas, Watson and Huleatt were honored.
Kingston plays three games in four days next week. It is home to Warwick on Monday, at Minisink Valley on Tuesday and back home Thursday for Middletown. If the Tigers can run the table, they could lock up the No. 2 seed for the Section 9, Class AA tournament. MONROE-WOODBURY (63)—Ongondo 3 1-1 7, Greene 4 0-0 12, Vacco 5 3-4 17, Memoli 0 0-0 0, Adams 6 0-0 11, McCormick 1 2-4 6, Lulgjuraj 2 0-0 4, Dembia 0 0-0 0, Coffey 2 2-2 6. Totals 23 8-11 63. KINGSTON (80)— Watson 1 1-4 3, Moore 10 3-3 29, Wright 9 2-3 20, Genther 1 0-0 3, Thomas 3 2-3 10, Moot 6 1-0 12, Housen 0 0-0 0, Gaton 0 0-0 0, Bamba 0 0-0 0, Jackson 1 1-2 3. Totals 31 9-16 80. Monroe-Woodbury 14 16 17 15—63 Kingston 23 20 11 26—80 3-point field goals: Greene 4, Vacco 4, Adams; Moore 6, Thomas 2, Genther. Team records: Monroe-Woodbury 2-5 OCIAA Division I, 8-8 overall; Kingston 4-3 OCIAA Division I, 13-4 overall.