Howie Levy jokingly called it "getting the monkey off his back," but for the first time in five meetings over the past five years the Mercer County Community College finally defeated Princeton' J.V.
Leading 33-32 in the second half, the Vikings (6-3) went on a 12-0 run sparked by the play of sophomore center Filip Sekulic, who recently accepted a full scholarship at Chestnut Hill College.
Sekulic had eight straight during this stretch, including a soft baseline jumper, a two-handed slam and a wild finish after bumping off of Princeton's Bobby Garbade in mid-air.
While some late three point shooting from the Tigers' Ameer Elbuluk helped his team close the deficit in the final minutes, MCCC held on at the free throw line.
Princeton's best chance came on a contested three from Mike Washington, Jr. at the top of the arc with the score favoring Mercer 49-46 with less than 2:45 remaining.
Postgame audio from Howie Levy, a scoring breakdown for the Tigers, some additional notes and even a video montage can all be found after the jump.
(#) Player - First Half / Second Half (Total)
-------------
(#11) Edo Lawrence - 22/222 (10)
(#4) Brian Fabrizius - 3/0 (3)
(#4) Ameer Elbuluk - 33/333 (15)
(#23) Mike Washington, Jr - 0/1121 (5)
(#34) Bobby Garbade - 2232/222 (15)
-------------
(#24) Issac Serwanga - 0/3122 (8)
Also seeing time were unidentified Princeton players wearing #5, #11 & #14 (possibly named Matt).
Garbade looked the most ready to make a step forward, likely as a junior. He missed several shots inside but had a couple of smooth outside jumpers and finished a few tries in decent traffic.
Lawrence was a mixed bag. The pair of times he was aggressive versus smaller defenders he was able to dunk easily (and finish one nice layup from behind his head at the rim) but often lost the ball or could not get legitimate posting position.
I wasn't keeping track of turnovers but the Tigers sure had a lot of'm.
In typical J.V. fashion I arrived scant seconds after the scheduled start time and discovered five minutes of game action had transpired. The Tigers were already down 8-3 (their lone basket I would learn later a three from Elbuluk) but an inside basket from Lawrence, a Garbade hook and a Garbade reverse erased that deficit.
Princeton played more zone than I expected in the first half, far less in the second.
This year's J.V. is coached by Marcus Jenkins and Dan Geriot.
Postgame audio - Coach Howie Levy:
