Box Score
Updated Tournament Bracket
BALTIMORE, Md. – The seventh-ranked Baltimore City Community College men's basketball team posted a 113-107 win over No. 10 Chesapeake College in the first round of the 2011 Maryland JUCO Conference Tournament.
The Panthers (18-9) advance to the quarterfinal round on Friday at 7 p.m. when they will take on No. 2 Frederick Community College at the Cougar Dome on Frederick's campus. In the earlier meeting this season, Frederick (20-5) used a home-court advantage to beat BCCC 105-67.
Down two points, 107-105, with 1:24 left in the game, BCCC sophomore phenom Micah Fraction (Silver Spring, Md./Montrose Christian) hit two free throws and then a fast-break layup to put the Panthers up 109-107 with 48 seconds left. BCCC turned up the defense and held the Skipjacks scoreless the rest of the way.
The game was close from the start. The Panthers led by nine, 14-5, after a layup by Kenny Bey-Brown (Philadelphia, Pa.) with 15:14 left in the first half. But Chesapeake rallied and took a 54-48 lead into halftime.
There were six ties in the second half alone and the Skipjacks jumped out to a 12-point lead, 93-81, after a 3-pointer by Jimmie Jenkins with 6:19 left in the game. But the Panthers controlled the game down the stretch for the win.
Six of the seven Skipjacks dressed scored in double figures, led by Desma Nicholson who had 35 points on 11-of-22 shooting from the floor, including 5-of-9 from beyond the arc. Louis Simpson had a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds, while Jenkins just missed a triple-double with 17 points, 13 assists and seven boards in 39 minutes. Matthew Jackson had 14 points and six rebounds and Ryan Waters and Roderick Pegram added 10 points each. Water also grabbed 12 rebounds.
Fraction led BCCC with a career-high 46 points. He was 17-of-28 from the field, 4-of-7 from 3-point range and 8-of-12 from the free-throw line. Brandon Belt (Odenton, Md./Arundel HS) finished with 17 points and 8 boards and Bey-Brown had 16 points. Christian Diboko (Kinshasa, Congo) grabbed a game- and career-high 13 rebounds and dished out a season-best six assists, while Craig Ryan (Baltimore, Md./John Carroll HS) had six points and 11 boards.
