Herkimer, FulMont to play for Region III basketball crown
HERKIMER - The top seed and the defending champion will square off in Sunday's NJCAA Region III men's basketball championship game at Herkimer College.
Herkimer, the tournament's top seed and host, defeated Tompkins Cortland Community College 83-75 in Saturday's first semifinal. Fulton-Montgomery Community College, the No. 2 seed and 2023 champion, beat Clinton Community College 70-67 in the second game.
Herkimer's Generals (26-2) and Fulton-Montgomery's Raiders (25-3) take the court again Sunday at 1 p.m. with the winner earning Region III's automatic bid for the Division III national tournament March 13-16 in Herkimer.
More: Generals advance to men's regional basketball semifinals
Herkimer trailed Tompkins Cortland (17-9) at halftime Saturday but outscored the Panthers 49-38 in the second half. Jayson McGhee scored 12 of his 20 points in the second half and Nick Boyce had eight of his 11.
Oladele Oladitan led the Generals with 23 points and seven rebounds, and his three-point shot gave Herkimer the lead at 59-57 with nine minutes left to play. McGhee also had seven rebounds.
Damari Johnson scored 27 points to lead Tompkins Cortland. He also had eight rebounds while Khai Pugh added 15 points and 13 rebounds, helping the Panthers outrbound the Generals 47-28.
Fulton-Montgomery also trailed at halftime in its semifinal before outscoring Clinton 48-29 in the second half. Donovan Rodriguez led the Raiders with 20 points, seven rebounds, five assists and four steals. Schumel Shepard added 16 points and seven assists while Kennyh Hardeman and Nahjime Kirton, the region's leading scorers, had 16 and 14 points.
Fulton-Montgomery, currently ranked seventh in the nation with a 17-game winning streak, defeated Herkimer, ranked fourth, 105-94 in the teams' regular season finale Feb. 21. Herkimer had entered that game with a 21-game win steak that included a 76-68 victory over Fulton-Montgomery in January.
Top seeds meet in women's final
Jefferson Community College and Onondaga Community College, seeded first and second, won Saturday in Watertown and will play Sunday for Region III's women's basketball title.
Jefferson (23-2) defeated Fulton-Montgomery Community College 78-65 in one semifinal, and Onondaga (25-2) beat Mohawk Valley Community College 61-54 in the other.
Mohawk Valley, seeded third, finishes its season at 17-5. The Hawks trailed by one point entering the fourth quarter and were outscored 15-9. Nevaeh House led Mohawk Valley with 21 points while Nataya McGee scored 17 with 13 rebounds, and Raegan Dalrymple had 10 and 14. Avianna Baker scored 21 points to lead Onondaga.
Abby Raven (23 points), LaKaiya Butcher (22) and Kori Nichols (18) combined to score 63 of Jefferson's 78 points. Broadalbin-Perth High School graduate Makenzie Smith led Fulton-Montomery with 20 points while Andie Gannon of Amstedam had 14 and Abigail Lombardoni from Fonda-Fultonville 13.
This article originally appeared on Times Telegram: Herkimer, Fulton-Montgomery win Region III basketball semifinals
