Middle Early College (MEC) wasted little time Tuesday evening defending their Section VI Class C title.
Standing in their way of a repeat was Randolph once again.
The Kats led from the start and never trailed as they defeated the Cards 60-32 behind a 22-point performance by senior guard Jamond Jones.
With the win, MEC will return to Buffalo State College on Saturday to play in the Class C Far West Regionals against a team from Section V (Rochester).
MEC was lethal from 3-point land and outright deadly on the boards. The Kats drained five 1st half three-pointers.
Head coach James Kane of MEC knew MEC’s biggest threat to dethroning them would be Randolph’s Tyler Hind.
The Kats used a number of players to double and even triple-team Hind throughout the game and limited the Daemen College (D-II) commit to just 13 points.
“We needed a total team effort to limit Tyler, he’s a great player and he’s their guy,” Kane said. “I couldn’t be happier with the way our team performed tonight. They took control and played well all
game and executed.”
Jaedin Cottman poured in 13 for MEC and was solid on the boards at both ends.
Malik Meadows and Devonte Prince combined for 11 points but more importantly had the lions share of containing Hind.
“I’m just proud of my teammates and the way we did what we had to do,” Prince said. “We practiced hard all week. Our coaches had a good gameplan and ran some really good practices to get us ready. They had us prepared.”
MEC now must wait to see who they play next. It’ll be either Lyons or Cal-Mum; they tip-off at 7pm Wednesday.
