Orange CC vs Monroe CC Men's Basketball

     The DJ brought out the good speakers for today's contest, you could see the building shaking from the bass while walking in. And why not? This heavyweight bout between #19 Orange CC and #9 Monroe CC warranted the three photographers and a videographer. Plus highly respected and decorated local journalist, Me, in attendance. By my tally occupancy was in the triple digits including a good amount of quarter zips from college coaches getting a look. And by God this game delivered.

    Monroe immediately threw the first punch going up ten in the first two minutes. They were ready for a physical altercation while Orange woke up hoping for a Saturday morning jog.

Each team's identity was clear- Orange wanted to run n' gun, go for every highlight play they could, shoot the first open look, and they seem accustomed to out athlete-ing  the other team, the only problem being Monroe was equally or more athletic. Monroe on the other hand had the most switchable team I've seen in a long time, everyone handled the ball, always looked to attack the rim, crashed the glass, and had some lovely discipled help defense. 

    Back to the action, Orange finally woke up. They took that punch and with the utmost confidence started bombing threes.

Bartender I heard you're serving triples? YES!

Orange hits their third three pointer, wide open, to take an early one point lead and their guy gets a tech for celebrating. 

Bartender cut this man off he's been overserved, no more triples.

    And cut off they were, the rest of the game was a brickfest from three. This favored Monroe who clearly couldn't shoot even in warmups. The spark for them was a guard, Brazil, who was easily the most skilled player on the court. He went past every defender on the floor, sometimes on the same possession, and always rewarded himself with a shot attempt. Very solid finisher, but if he learns to pass this guy is elite. 

    Monroe hadn't totally figured out the defense by Orange though and neither have I. They were good on ball defenders, but off ball they appeared to be constantly scrambling by design. This plus their transition defense which was simply jumping in front of the ball handler and hoping for the best, usually a foul, was effective enough to keep Monroe out of a rhythm. 

    Orange found their answer on offense by finally slowing down and getting into a very nice high-low game with their two forwards.* #23 Little off the bench was their best passer from the high post, this guy played hard and made a lot of good decisions. Due to a lack of lateral quickness I see him maxing out as a very good forward at the D3 level. 

*Orange's guards made plenty of turnovers trying to make an entry pass from the top of the key with zero angle. 

    Neither team got much going in the first half and the boys went to the locker room with the score: Monroe 32 - Orange 31

    I wasn't allowed to get shots up during half. Instead the unofficial dance team entertained the masses by showing off their moves directly in front of a highly trafficked doorway. Finally with two minutes left the teams emerged from the locker room to conduct some kind of ritual swag off. Monroe lay up lines included double eurosteps, while Orange opted to not take a shot within 30 feet. A decisive win for Orange.

    The wise adjustment by Monroe was to start pressing, speed up the team that wants to go fast. Orange quickly turned the ball over or when they got it over halfcourt they would take the first shot possible. Monroe went on a nice little run, but they stayed in the press too long and started playing at a frantic pace themselves. Orange kept the game close and even took the lead for a little while, but it was clear who the better team was. 

    At long last, with 11 minutes left in the game, the first jump stop occurred. Monroe has made the revolutionary breakthrough. This was effectively the end of the game. Monroe took a 10 point lead by simply playing under control and kept Orange at arms length the rest of the way.

    It became clear Orange wasn't made up of awesome teammates. When things went south they stopped talking to each other. #4 Morris was even putting on a bizarre performative attitude towards the crowd. I think he wanted to tell us, "I'm actually the best player, I'm just having an off game." Although he wasn't their best player, that was easily #13 Pacciarelli who was a pure three level scorer. His Dad sat in front of me and his brother sat next to me along with a friend of his. 

The brother and his friend were middle school hooded white boys who had a lot of opinions on which girls in their school are chopped or not. "It's wild Catherine isn't chopped cuz she has a mom name." 

    Thank goodness for this entertainment because the rest of the game was Orange sulking and getting killed on the offensive glass. I wish I could highlight more Monroe players, but they were such a balanced team that played well together it was hard for anyone to standout. 

    The game ended with a final score: Monroe 74 - Orange 63

No handshake line took place.