The Genesee Community College men's basketball team traveled to Rochester to face the nation's No. 15 National Junior College Athletic Association D-II team and although the Cougars didn't upset the Tribunes they rallied twice - once in each half - with the first rally resulting in a four-point 39-35 half-time lead.
Another impressive second-half rally got the Cougars within a pair of scores late in the contest before falling 90-84 to No. 15 Monroe, who have been as high as No. 8 in recent national polls.
The nationally-ranked Tribunes were fast out of the gate and built a six-point lead, but Genesee was undaunted and quickly turned the tables from being down a pair of scores to leading by a pair.
Brian Fobbs sank a three to give the Cougars its first lead at 11-10 and Rahmel Thompson repeated the feat for a 14-10 lead and the Cougars never trailed the rest of the first half in building a lead as high as six points before intermission. Fobbs entered the game needing 18 points to surpass Dave Spiller's 1,058 career points to move to No. 9 on the GCC all-time scoring list and now has 1,062.
Genesee restored its game-high six-point lead with the second half's opening score, but the Tribunes responded and showed why they are a nationally-ranked team with an 11-0 run that resulted in a reverse in leads that found the Cougars down by three scores.
The Cougar deficit got as high as 16 in the game's final minutes, but a late 14-4 Genesee run brought the contest within two scores at 86-80 before the last points of the game favored MCC 6-4.
Thompson finished the contest as the team's leader in points with 26, while Fobbs was not far behind with 21 and had the team's only double-double performance with a team-high 14 rebounds. The
Brandon Peters also hit double-digits with 16 points, while adding a team-high seven assists.
The Cougars next host Mercyhurst North East in Western New York Athletic Conference action on Feb. 7 at 7:30 p.m. The game is available for online viewing at https://www.genesee.edu/home/event-streaming/streaming-channel-2/.
