Health Sciences beats #2 Middle College

 

 Ty Parker caught his first high school basketball coaching break at Middle College.  Always passionate about the sport of basketball and very active on the summer ball scene, Parker joined the Kats' staff in 2010 and was part of four trips to Glens Falls in five seasons, including a state championship and three title game appearances. Parker left Middle College to take the head coaching position for the JV team at Health Sciences last season and then took over as the head man for the Falcons' varsity squad this season.  After just eight games as a varsity head coach, he helped the Falcons earn their most significant win in program history.  

 

Jaylen Prophet scored 11 of his 18 points in the second half, as Health Sciences went on the road and scored a major 63-59 nonleague victory over Middle College, the #2 ranked small school in WNY.  The win improves the Falcons record to 7-1 heading into the holidays, while the Kats slip to 3-3 on the season.

 

"First and foremost, I'd like to thank Randy Rich for giving me the opportunity to coach high school basketball," Health Sciences head coach Ty Parker said.  "If it weren't for him, I probably wouldn't be here coaching right now."

 

Parker is making the most of his first varsity head coaching position, fielding a high-energy group that believes in their coach and their team.  After a road win against such a highly regarded team in the city, the excitement in the Falcons' locker room and practices will only get bigger.

 

"I tip my hat to my team - our boys came to play." Parker said.  "I'm happy for them, Middle College is a great team - I'm just motivating them, but they put the work in."

 

You won't see many games that are more competitive than this one was in the first half.  With a small court at Bennett and two teams loaded with athletes, the Falcons and Kats were a blur racing up and down the court, and a challenge just to keep up with as I wrote the scoring down.  Besides the pace, there was a lot of pride on the line.  Not only did the coaches once work together, but the players all knew each other and there was plenty of talk leading up to the game.  The first two quarters saw the lead change 16 different times, along with six ties.  Tyron Lott scored the last four points of the half for Health Sciences to give them a 35-34 lead at the break.

 

Jojo Staton, who scored a team-high 18 points, made a 3-pointer to start the second half and put the Kats up 37-35.  On the next possession, Davonte Gaines tied the game for the Falcons, and they would never trail the rest of the way.  Minutes later, Prophet and freshman Kameron Briggs banged back-to-back 3-pointers for the Falcons to put them up six.

 

The rest of the quarter played out with the Kats trying to regain momentum, while Health Sciences looked comfortable, and kept answering.  Lott converted a traditional three-point play when the Kats got within a bucket, and Prophet canned another 3-bomb to end the 3rd and get his team's lead back to six.

 

"They were running a 1-3-1 defense and we prepared for that, but in the first half, we weren't running our sets properly,"  Parker said.  "In the second half, once we settled in, and ran our offense, we got a hold of them."

 

Prophet stretched the Falcon advantage to eight points to begin the fourth, the largest lead either team would have in the game, and just enough for Parker's crew to close out the Kats.  Middle College mounted a pair of runs in the final stanza.  The first got them within two with 3:20 left, before Prophet & Briggs again pushed the lead back to six points.  Then with 30 seconds remaining, Jojo Staton hit a pair of free throws to tie the game at 59-59.  However, Lott came right back with a pair of his own from the stripe and then the Falcons sealed the victory by securing  a Middle College turnover and watching Prophet ice the game with two more charity tosses.

 

Following the game, Health Sciences was an elated group that was enjoying the moment together as I made my way to its locker room.  It was the highest ranked opponent the Falcons have ever beaten, and as I spoke with Coach Parker, the entire squad gathered around and hung on every word as the coach praised the work put in by the group as a whole, along with several individual performances.

 

"Stay together, play together,"  Parker said.  "There's a lot of guys on our team that could start on anybody's team, and it takes a lot of character for them to all come together and play as one unit."

 

Making the victory all the more impressive is the lack of experience the Falcons overcame in big game.  The Kats start five seniors, and all five were part of the team that advanced to the Class C regionals last season.  Health Sciences rolls out just one senior for tip, and two of its underclassmen starters are sophomores.  Considering the way the Falcons have beefed up their nonleague schedule from past seasons before Parker's arrival, the young group will be battle tested this season and moving forward into the future.

 

"I tried to build a nonleague schedule that would get us ready for sectionals," Parker said.

 

Point Totals

Health Sciences:  Tyron Lott 21, Jaylen Prophet 18, Jaquan Renfro 9, Kameron Briggs 7, Davonte Gaines 7, Amarri Funderburk 1

Middle College:  Jojo Staton 20, Lorenzo Truitt 13, Billy Rivera 13, Brian Johnson 6, Torrell Jackson 4, Nader Kompany 3

 

-centercourt

Comments

[coach g]

Awesome article.

[PXJ]

Where was Fred Foster is he out long term this would be a big blow to MEC

[Jay]

Have you heard anything about the NFL? Thinking about going to the Lockport, Niagara Falls game on the 5th.

[POY '84]

Did foster transfer again or something?