The Jamestown Community College men’s basketball team celebrated six sophomores on Wednesday night, but the celebration was short-lived in their 89-77 conference loss to 17th-ranked Monroe CC.

The Jayhawks took an early lead on a triple from freshman Jodan Wright, who finished the game with a team-high 19 points, to take a 5-4 edge. The Tribunes fired back in a big way, going on an 18-5 run to open up a 22-10 edge on the Jayhawks midway through the opening half.

Jamestown CC kept it close thanks to the 3-point shot. Naeem Richardson splashed home the long-range bomb to cut the deficit to 26-18. The freshman scored 12 off the bench.

Monroe CC once again quickly closed the door, putting together a 12-7 spurt to put the Jayhawks down double figures. They trailed 42-28 at halftime.

The Jayhawks sliced the Monroe lead to 11 off of a mid-range jumper from sophomore Federico Foddai, who finished with 12 points, but the deficit grew to 20 at one point in the second half before a run guided by Marcus Wynter brought them to within eight at 83-75. The sophomore scored 17 and added nine assists.

The loss dropped Jamestown CC under .500 on the season at 10-11 and 0-5 in league action. The Jayhawks finish the season with its last conference game at Erie CC at 1 p.m. Saturday.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

The Jamestown Community College women’s basketball team dropped to 1-3 in league action with a 59-49 home loss to Monroe CC on Wednesday evening.

This game can be summarized with one stat: 29 turnovers for the Jayhawks leading to 32 points for the Tribunes.

The Jayhawks jumped out to a 10-2 lead halfway through the first quarter. Freshman Mila Espinoza capped off the quick start with a layup for two of her team-high 14 points.

Monroe CC quickly answered back, taking a lead at 14-12 before Lailah McGary tied the game at the end of the period.

Jamestown CC started to dig a hole with the turnovers as they found themselves down 28-21 before Felicity Thiem was able to find space down low. The Jayhawks trailed 29-23 at the break.

Jamestown CCopened the second half much like the first, drawing to within two off of a Jaemie Jensen bucket, and the score was 33-31 with 4:15 left in the third. The Tribunes answered with an 8-2 run to take a 41-33 advantage at the start of the fourth.

The Jayhawks clawed back to within 52-47, thanks in part to the scoring of sophomore Jani Washington, who finished with 13 points, but it wasn’t enough in the end.

The loss moves the Jayhawks to 13-9 overall. They finish up the regular season with a non-conference game at CC of Beaver County at 5 p.m. Feb. 18.