Roxbury ‘s Second-Half Surge Ends Cougar Win Streak at 10

BOSTON – Roxbury CC overcame a five point halftime deficit to beat previously unbeaten Manchester CC 67-54 at the Reggie Lewis Center Tuesday night.

Roxbury (12-2) was paced by Jesika Holmes who had 17 points. Shenielle Duncan-Clarke (Bloomfield) had 16 points, nine assists and six rebounds for MCC (10-1).

MCC took a 29-25 lead into the second half on the strength of a 10-0 run midway through the first twenty minutes. But after the break, it was all Roxbury, who took the lead for good in the first three minutes of the second half with a 10-0 run of its own. Roxbury outscored MCC 42-25 in the second half with speed and three-pointers.

The game was a showdown between two of the top junior college teams in New England with both teams undefeated in Region 21 play.

“We were kind of nervous about their height advantage,” Roxbury head coach Mark Leszczyk said. “We felt we could outrun those guys, but they ran better than we thought. But it’s our home gym and I know we are going to face Manchester again if we are going to get ourselves to the national tournament. We are the two best teams in the region, so we’ll meet again.”

Ericka Sagay (Bloomfield) had 15 points, nine rebounds and five blocks for MCC while Kassiana Goodman (Waterbury) had seven points, five rebounds and five assists. Jasmine McNeil had 14 points and Christalee Lynch had 13 for Roxbury.

“We gave up a lot of wide open jump shots, which we normally don’t do,” MCC head coach Robert Turner, Jr. said. “They (Roxbury) came to play and you’ve got to give them credit. We usually play very tough defense, but it seemed like it failed us tonight. I’ve got to give all the credit to Roxbury, they played a tough game, but we will come back and come back better.”

The Cougars will take a holiday break and return to action on Tuesday January 5th when they host Quinsigamond at 6 PM at the Great Path Academy gym on MCC’s campus.