Jets Race out to 19-0 Lead, North Rallies Late, Falls Short

The Jets raced out to an early lead with a 19-0 first quarter against Tri-County North. But any thoughts of putting the game into cruise control and easing to a Friday night victory were erased as North's Ryan McAdams exploded off the bench for 29 points. North made a late push, but Franklin Monroe was able to hold them off with stubborn defensive play and a strong post presence.

The Jets could do no wrong on offense or defense in the first quarter.  They ran the court and quickly built a lead. North on the other hand, could not get any sort of offense going.  And the Jet man to man defense was too much for North, they could not score from inside or outside.  Coach King took a timeout at the 5 minute mark to try and stem the bleeding – but to no avail, the Jets finished the quarter with all the momentum and a 19-0 lead.

At this point, a lot of folks were probably looking at their watches and thinking about their plans for after the game. But North slowly righted their ship. They finally got on the board with a tap in by Mark Vanbrederode early in the second quarter.  And also in the second quarter North’s Ryan McAdams – who had to sit out the 1^st quarter due to disciplinary reasons, came off the bench and scored 11 of his game high 29 points.  Finally, North went into a zone defense which slowed the pace of Franklin Monroe’s scoring and began to chip away at the lead.  

Still the Jets had a comfortable half time lead.  But by the end of the 3^rd quarter the lead was down to 11.  So now the crowd sat up and began to take notice as North began to make little runs at the Jets down the stretch.  The Jets had overall a taller team and now the Jets strategy was to pound the ball inside. Twice North closed to within 8 points, but the Jets remained poised and wouldn’t let them close any further.  They went into a slow down with a little over 3 minutes left, forcing North to a man to man defense.  Although North fouled at the end, Franklin Monroe hit enough shots to keep the lead and escape with a 56-48 win.

“It showed a little bit of maturity in our guys,” stated coach  King when asked about how North shook off the first quarter and played with Franklin Monroe the last 3 quarters. “It would have been easy to give up when you are down 19-0.  Our guys rallied behind Ryan McAdams and made a game of it.  We played hard and executed offensively tonight. We changed defenses on them, and I think it caught them off guard.”

Ryan McAdams: “He had to sit out the 1^st quarter for disciplinary reasons, but he came in and kept his head – instead of hanging his head, he kept it up. He gave us a spark off the bench.”

Bradford: “Despite their record they are going to play us hard. We have to go there and we will have to earn anything we get. No one has handed us a victory this year and we have to go get it.”