Unbelievable Brown
JCC Freshman Scores School-Record 59 Points In P-J Classic Title WinBy Jim Riggs
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''Until we're all a hundred, you might not see anything like what we saw in that gym today. I'm serious. I'm dead serious.''
That's what Jamestown Community College men's basketball coach Mike Cordovano told his staff nearly 30 minutes after Jayhawks' freshman Ashton Brown had a game to remember on Sunday afternoon.
In the championship game of the 18th Post-Journal Classic, Brown scored a school-record 59 points to lead JCC to a 97-90 victory over the JCC-Olean Jaguars.
The former Randolph Central School standout had 29 points in the first half, when JCC held a slim 41-40 lead. Then he topped that with 30 points in the second half.
Brown shot 21-for-26 from the field, including 9-for-9 from 3-point range, and from the foul line he was a perfect 8-for-8.
''I told him after the game yesterday that I didn't believe he came in mentally and physically ready to play,'' Cordovano said. ''He called me up last night and told me he was going to be ready. Sure, I know he's going to be ready, but 59? No way.''
And he still didn't know Brown had scored that many points after the game.
''We had no idea,'' Cordovano said. ''At the end of the game I heard someone say 59 and as great as he was I had no clue he had that many.''
Brown was in the same boat.
''I didn't even know I had that many points until they told me,'' he said.
Cordovano noted, '' I think the reason I had no clue was he never took one bad shot. I've seen guys get 40 and when you score over 40, I'm going to think you have to take some bad ones. He took one bad shot and what was so cool was that he looked over to me at the bench and he nodded his head saying that was a bad one. That's what I'm excited about was he didn't force a thing.''
And the coach added that Brown could have scored more.
''He was very unselfish,'' Cordovano said. ''It's incredible to think a kid can score 59 and be unselfish and he was unselfish. I thought he could have taken a couple more that he gave up.''
Brown admitted after the game he thought something special was going to happen.
''Something about today, when I woke up I just had a feeling it was going to be a good day,'' he said. ''I guess it was.''
He added, ''I shot earlier this morning at 9 at the G.A. Home and it felt really good there. Then it felt good all game.''
Brown's scoring high at Randolph Central School was 47 points.
Cordovano recalled when Blake Johnson put on a scoring exhibition in a tournament at Champlain College in the 1990s. In the opening game, Johnson scored nine points in the first half and then 35 in the second half. The following night, he had a seven-point first half and again scored 35 points in the second half.
''That's the only thing I can compare it to in my 15 years was that weekend Blake had,'' Cordovano said.
He added, ''I was fortunate enough to coach Blake Johnson, a (NJCAA Division II) first-team all-American and I'm sorry, Blake, but I've never seen anything like that in this gym or any other gym in 15 years (of coaching at JCC).''
It was the sixth time JCC has won The Post-Journal Classic and the first since 2005. And everyone of Brown's 59 points was needed to do it.
''We beat a good team without Tommy,'' he said about playing without 6-6 sophomore Tom Lee who is sidelined with an ankle injury. ''We're not a balanced-scoring team right now and we needed Tommy's points and rebounds. And with not being there, we needed every point Ashton scored tonight, obviously.''
But coming through with points inside was freshman Ryan Rice, who finished with 18 points and joined Brown on the all-tournament team. And it was the Clymer Central School graduate's defense that was just as important. JCC-Olean's James Chatmon scored 29 points in a win over Lorain County CC on Saturday, but he was held to just nine on Sunday.
''We wanted to get up in him,'' Cordovano said. ''He is a catch-and-shoot guy for the most part when he's in the corner and I've got to credit Ryan Rice with finding him and taking that shot away.''
JCC-Olean coach J.R. Kemp said, ''I thought we played well on offense and we got torched by somebody that was on another planet today and that doesn't happen a lot. We'll take this one on the chin. Hey, we got beat by Ashton Brown today.''
He added, ''They were defended shots. He made shots with hands in his face.''
JCC jumped out to an 18-6 lead after 7 minutes and Brown had 10 of the Jayhawks' points. While JCC was scoring, JCC-Olean was missing numerous bunnies inside.
''We're a team that for some reason, we don't start strong,'' Kemp said. ''We finish decent, but we don't start strong.''
Then the Jaguars' shots began to drop.
They went on a 15-4 run to pull within one, 22-21 with 8:15 left in the half and it was a battle the rest of the way.
In the final 11 minutes, the Jayhawks scored 23 points and Brown had 19 of them to finish the half with 29. For JCC-Olean, Travis Wright was handling the scoring with 19 in the half and it was a still one-point game at halftime with JCC clinging to a 41-40 lead.
''He's tough to defend because he can score strong around the basket with his size and yet he can shoot the three,'' Cordovano said about Wright, who finished with 38 points and was named to the all-tournament team.
Early in the second half, Brown had nine points on three 3-pointers and Rice had four to help JCC open up a 12-point lead, 60-48, with 14:25 left to play.
Also scoring four points in that string was sophomore point guard Marcus McAffee, who didn't play in the first half.
''Marcus McAffee did everything this young man is capable of doing,' Cordovano said. ''He did it all in one half (12 points). I'm extremely proud of him. How hard is it to watch the first half and walk in the second half and all of sudden your playing for a championship and he let the game come to him. At times Marcus takes the game in his own hands, but not today. He let the game come to him.''
The Jaguars bounced back with two 3-pointers each by Wright and Chatmon to pull within four with 10 minutes left. JCC responded with two 3s from Brown and two 2s from Rice to open up and 11-point lead, but again JCC-Olean bounced back and with three minutes left it trailed by only three, 86-83.
The JCC lead was at five when McAffee drove toward the basket and as he crossed the foul line he flipped a pass behind his head to Brown who was wide open in the corner and he hit his ninth 3-pointer to complete his 59 points and JCC led 95-87 with 46 seconds left.
''The one in the corner was the biggest,'' Brown said. ''I think put us by seven or something like that with a minute left and I thought that should pretty much do it.''
Cordovano said, ''When Ashton let that go, we had no reason to think he was going to miss that shot.''
There was another benefit from Brown shooting 81 percent from the field.
''We talked about no fast breaks; no bad shots leading to fast breaks,'' Cordovano said. ''We did not give them a fast-break basket tonight and that was my biggest fear. What led to that, not giving up a fast-break basket, was obviously Ashton shooting a high percentage and his teammates shooting a high percentage.''
And the Jayhawks were strong down the stretch.
''For the first time this year in the last two minutes we got stops and rebounds and that's been our problem,'' Cordovano said. ''Markus Williams squared a couple guys driving to the basket. That's his job in our zone and I thought he did a nice job.''
In the consolation game, the Lorain County CC Commodores from Elyria, Ohio, defeated the Westmoreland County CC Wolfpack, 94-78. It was the second straight consolation loss for Westmoreland County, which fell to JCC, 61-51, last year.
Devaujhn Boddie, who scored 31 points on Saturday, got off to a slow start for Lorain County, but when he scored five straight points it gave the Commodores a 15-10 lead. They extended their lead to eight before Westmoreland County went on a 9-2 run to pull within one.
Lorain County answered with a 12-3 run to move in front by nine and at halftime the lead was at 11, 49-38.
In the second half, Boddie got off to a quick start and scored 13 points as Lorain County outscored the Wolfpack 24-14 in the first 9 minutes to take a 21-point lead, 73-52, and the Commodores coasted home with the win. Their largest margin was 24 before Westmoreland County had a 12-4 run at the end to make the final score 94-78.
Boddie finished with 27 points for Lorain County and he made the all-tournament team after scoring 48 points in two games. Jeff Knepper and Jake Rigsby had 15 each while Antonio Norris scored 14.
For the Wolfpack, Ryan Hauser, Dane Vaughn and Detrell Hutcherson had 13 each. Jon Shodi, who was named to the all-tournament team, had 12 and Ryan Orr scored 11.
JCC returns to action on Wednesday when it plays host to the CC of Allegheny County at 7 p.m.
CHAMPIONSHIP
JCC-OLEAN (90)
Foster 1 2-2 4, Banks 5 3-5 14, Boyd 3 2-3 8, Woods 7 3-4 17, Rosel 0 0-0 0, Wright 14 4-4 38, Chatmon 3 1-2 9, Totals 33 15-20 90.
JCC (97)
McAffee 4 4-4 12, Rundle 0 -0 0, Rice 8 2-4 18, Whitaker 0 0-0 0, Krauza 2 0-0 4, Mahany 0 0-0 0, Erdmann 0 0-0 0, Williams 0 4-6 4, Brown 21 8-8 59, Totals 35 18-22 97.
Halftime-JCC 41, JCC-Olean 40. 3-point goals-Banks, Wright 6, Chatmon 2, Brown 9. Total fouls-JCC-Olean 16, JCC 15.
CONSOLATION
LORAIN COUNTY(94)
Boddie 10 5-6 27, Knepper 5 3-4 15, Johnson 1 0-0 2, Hall 1 3-4 6, Wesley 0 0-0 0, Norris 6 0-1 14, Rigsby 6 0-1 15, Jones 0 2-2 2, Holley 4 3-4 15, Totals 33 18-23 94.
WESTMORELAND COUNTY (78)
Shodi 5 0-0 12, Hutcherson 6 0-0 13, Williams 1 2-2 4, Vaughn 6 1-4 13, Harris 4 0-0 9, Hauser 4 4-4 13, Eric 1 2-2 4, Orr 4 3-5 11, Totals 31 12-17 78.
Halftime-Lorain County 49, Westmoreland County 38. 3-point goals-Boddie 2, Knepper 2, Hall, Rigsby 3, Holley 2, Shodi 2, Hutcherson, Harris, Hauser. Total fouls-Lorain County, 14, Westmoreland County 20.






