Monroe Tornadoes sweep Albany Indians

ALBANY — For the second straight game, Monroe received a boost from its seniors. The Tornadoes had four seniors score in double figures on their way to a 68-45 victory over Albany High Friday night at the Archie Arena.

Monroe opened the game on an 11-0 run before Albany cut the lead down to four. The Tornado seniors combined to score 18 of the team’s 21 first quarter points.

“The seniors gave us a great start,” Monroe coach Marquis Davis said. “They are playing with a lot of intensity. It seems as though they are getting that will to win … the determination to go forward.”

In the second quarter, the Indians went on an 8-2 run to cut the lead to 23-20. Monroe went four minutes without scoring but the drought was broken when Emeshuan Offord found Napoleon Harris for an alley-oop dunk.

A trey by Offord with one minute left in the quarter gave Monroe a 28-23 lead which held until halftime.

“It was a good win,” Davis said. “As I say all the time, this is a tough region. Albany, an in-town rival, is a very well-coached team. I thought our guys really played well tonight.”

The Indians hung around for the early half of the third quarter and came within one point when Darrell Bryant hit a layup with 4:30 left in the game.

That was as close as it would get for Albany. Back-to-back treys by Offord and Ulysses Williams sparked a 12-0 run for Monroe that gave them a 46-32 lead at the end of the third.

In the fourth quarter, Trentavious Jackson gave Monroe seven straight points. Jackson finished with 17 points.

The starters for both teams sat on the bench for the second half of the fourth quarter.

Offord finished as the game’s leading scorer with 18 points. K’Naurtica George had 12 points and Harris had 10 points.

Bryant led Albany with 16 points.

Monroe girls 41, Albany 22

The Monroe girls used a full court press to open up a small lead over Albany only to extend it late in the game to move on to a victory.

Monroe went on an 8-1 run to open the game but Albany cut the score in half and trailed 10-5 at the end of the first quarter.

The Lady Tornadoes applied a full court press that forced numerous turnovers in the second quarter. The Squaws cut the lead to four late in the second quarter before a three by Stevie Stallworth and a layup by Cekeya Mack gave Monroe a 20-11 lead at halftime.

The paced slowed down in the third quarter with each team scoring less than 10 point. But Monroe led 27-18 at the end of the quarter.

Monroe opened the fourth quarter with back-to-back steals to help them build a double-digit lead. The lead only grew as the quarter progressed.

Alissa Jones and Toddriana Isler led all scorers with 10 points each.