The Albany Patroons topped the Montreal Tundra, 95-81 Sunday afternoon at the Washington Avenue Armory for their second victory of the weekend.
Led by the stellar play of point guard Trevis Wyche, the Patroons jumped out to a 19-15 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The Tundra, however, made the key adjustments in the second quarter to take a 44-41 lead at halftime. Montreal pushed the pace, earning transition baskets as the Patroons struggled with rebounding.
“Montreal was using a soft press,” said Patroons Coach Derrick Rowland. “We had 12 rebounds in the first half, I don’t know if I’ve ever had a team with 12 rebounds in one half.”
After the break, Wyche and Albany slowed down the pace on offense, but fired up the intensity on defense, retaking the lead, 68-61 going into the final quarter.
“By the second half, we turned up our defensive intensity and rebounding,” said Rowland. “So those were the keys to us getting on the right track and coming back to win the game.”
Wyche finished with 24 points to lead all scorers and dished out eight assists. Deon Lyle added 20 points for the Patroons, while Marcus Merchant scored 13.
“At the end of the first half, Montreal was really just running around out there,” said Merchant. “So we slowed down, took our time on the offense, passed the ball around more until we started getting open looks.”
The Patroons (8-1) also got back to the basics on the glass, crashing the boards and boxing out. The adjustments were enough for Albany to complete a weekend sweep at the Armory, after beating Academie Alma 120-80 on Saturday night.
Albany will return to the Armory for another doubleheader beginning with a Friday night matchup against the London Lightning of the National Basketball League of Canada. The Patroons will then welcome back Academie Alma…
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