Thurgood Marshall Academy Panthers traveled on the road to opened the season on the road for the first time in five years and it would be interesting to see how the panthers reacted to the rival crowd and Manhattan Center. As the crowd came in the Panthers and the MC Rams warmed up and the electricty flowed through the crowd. At tip MC scored on a lay up as the crowd went crazy but TMA quickly quieted the crowd with a three pointer from junior guard Antoine Hackman in which he hit two more pointers in the first quarter. It started TMA on a 12-2 run before MC called timeout and recomposed themselves. Junior guard Shane Woney picked up his 2nd foul of the quarter and Junior guard Khalid Vaughn came in gave a defensive spark. At the end of the first quarter TMA led 21-9. Early in the second quarter Antoine Hackman picked up his second foulw which led to his exit of the game and Junior forward Domonique Murray entered the game and provided a defensive spark also as well as a bit of fire power off the bench. Seniors Trevor Dillard and Jason Givens picked up the scoring slack in the second quarter as both teams made the game a track meet up and down the court. After a steal TMA had a 2 on 1 Dillard handling the ball after making a move Dillard came down on his feet wrong and jammed his knee. As the gym remained quiet you could hear the agony from Dillard as coaches from both sides went to his aid. Eventually Dillard rose to his feet with the help of teammates and was helped over to the bench. MC cut into the lead as TMA only led by seven points at the half.
As the second half opened the pnathers were strapped with two players with two fouls and also an injured starter. MC had starter Irving Cato who had two fouls and a starter Troy Turner with two fouls. MC applied pressure after scores in a 2-2-1 full court press and made the panthers turn the ball over a numbers as MC closed the deficit to 1. During the third quarter Dillard came up limping on the opposite knee and had to leave the game. MC outscored TMA 31-17 in the third quarter to take the lead and have TMA trail 7 to end the quarter. During the break in between quarters it could heard the coach telling the team there is still a whole lot of time and to apply pressure to the ball. The panthers came out in full court man and kept pressure on the basketball wearing down the guards on MC which led to turnovers. The rally started as Khalid Vaughn got a steal and finished with a lay up allowing TMA to set their defense. As the TMA took the lead in the fourth quarter Manhattan Center continued to fight as as scoring see sawed back and forth between both teams. Two big plays occurred which changed the game for the panthers and provided motivation. One MC played a 1-3-1 half court zone for most of the game and Trevor Dillard hit a three from the left wing which took some air out of the rams and second, Woney hitting a pull up jumpshot from the right baseline which all but sealed the win for TMA. Mc was led by Troy Turner with 22 points and Jesse Velasquez added 19 points. TMA was led by Trevor Dillard with 23 points and six assists, Jason Givens with 16 points and 9 rebounds, and Antoine Hackman with16 points and 10 rebounds. TMA faces Wadleigh next at Wadleigh on Thursday December 4th.
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