Timon fans were silent for nearly the entire first quarter against St. Joe's on Monday night. Despite making a lot of noise for the rest of the game, they were also pretty quiet as they left for the evening.
Jaylen Morris scored a team-high 17 points and sank a 3-pointer with 1:13 remaining to break a tie game and the Marauders held on from there, defeating host Timon/St. Jude, 61-57, in the first MMA league meeting between the two ranked large schools this season. With the victory, St. Joe's extended its win streak to six games against the Tigers.
The lead changed six different times in the opening quarter, but it wasn't until Layne Collins swished a '3' from the corner with 15 seconds left in the stanza to make it 12-8, that Timon's student section, known as The Militia, made any noise. There was a Silent Night theme in effect, where no cheering takes place until the home team's tenth point is scored. Once Collins' shot went in, The Militia went ballistic for several minutes and even sang a stirring rendition of Silent Night as they swayed arm-in-arm.
The instant energy from the crowd gave Timon a brief boost, as they extended to 16-11 lead early in the second quarter, its largest lead of the game. However, St. Joe's managed to turn the tide over the final six minutes of the first half. The Marauders outscored Timon, 21-8 during that span, led by eight points from Louie Oliveri and six points from Justin Hollins. During the run, Oliveri went to the bank to get a 3-pointer to fall, and the smile on his face indicated that he hadn't warned the teller. St. Joe's was up 32-24 at halftime.
Morris scored a pair of buckets in the first minute of the third quarter, helping the Marauders to an 11-point lead, 38-27. The Tigers responded with a 12-2 run to pull within a point, ignited by a Donte Williams' trey and aided by five points from Bryant Fulton. Morris scored the last basket of the third, as St. Joe's held a 42-39 lead, and then the first field goal of the fourth quarter. Baskets from Oliveri and Mark Cerza pushed the St. Joe's advantage back to 48-39, with just over five minutes remaining.
Once again, a 12-2 run led by seven points from Fulton, bailed Timon out of a deficit. The Tigers regained the lead for the first time since midway through the second quarter, when Manny Welch bombed one in from long distance, making it 51-50, with 3:08 left in the game.
They say good shooters keep on shooting, a theory Jordan Glover must scubscribe to. After going 0-8 from the field in the game, Glover buried a '3' to take the lead right back for St. Joe's, just 16 seconds after they had lost it. Timon sophomore Derick Simpson came back and evened the game at 53 apiece, but the Tigers would never regain the lead.
Morris had five assists and five rebounds along with his team-high in points, Oliveri scored 14 points, and Dylan Hall added eight points and eight boards for the Marauders.
Fulton finished with a game-high 19 points for Timon in the loss, while Williams and Simpson added 15 and 11 points respectively.
The rematch is Friday, February 8th at St. Joe's, with a 7 pm start time scheduled.
-centercourt
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