Twins Repeat as Goldberg Classic Champions
Both the men's and women's basketball teams participated in the Goldberg Classic this past weekend. The Goldberg Classic is a basketball tournament hosted by Columbia-Greene Community College every year for the past 12 years. It is named after Walter and Grace Goldberg who were huge supporters of athletics at Columbia-Greene Community College.
The men's team faced off first on Friday afternoon with a first round game against the College of St. Josephs. This was a close one all the way through. The Twins claimed the lead at halftime scoring 50 points behind Jihadu Brunner-Brown's 16 first half points. The score going into half was 50 – 42. The Twins had more trouble scoring in the second half as St. Josephs was able to get the score back to even. Down by just one with under a minute left Twin's freshman, Kevin Diaz, drilled a three to put the Twins up 84 – 82. The Twins would hang onto that lead to punch their ticket to the championship game, 86 – 84. Leading scorer for the Twins was sophomore Jihadu Brunner-Brown with 19 points. Freshman, Kevin Diaz, finished the game with 17 points and was a perfect six for six from the free throw line. Sophomore, Michael Alert, also finished the game with 14 total points.
The second game of the day featured the Twins women's basketball team taking on SUNY Cortland's club basketball team. The Twins jumped out to an early lead finishing the first quarter up, 23 – 10. It was more of the same in quarter two as the Twins had the lead going into halftime, 48 – 30. Sophomore, Casiris Ruiz, scored 14 points in the first half for the Twins. The Twins continued to control the game over SUNY Cortland in the second half. The Twins would win by a final score of 76 – 54. The high scorer for the Twins was sophomore Anyla Harper with 22 points. Sophomore Casiris Ruiz finished with 17 points and seven assists. Freshman Kiearra Whaley finished with her first collegiate double-double with 15 points and 14 rebounds.
Both Twins teams punched their ticket to the championship games on Saturday. The women's championship game would take place first. The Twins were set to play SUNY Ulster after Ulster defeated Springfield Tech in the first round. Both teams got off to a slow start in the first quarter with the Twins leading after one, 10 – 9. However, the shots started to drop for both teams in the second quarter. The Twins would take the lead into halftime by a score of, 36 – 25. It was all Twins the rest of the way behind 16 second half points from sophomore Anyla Harper. The Twins would go on to win the Goldberg Classic championship 81 – 50. Sophomore Anyla Harper was the leading scorer for the Twins with 24 points and nine rebounds. Freshman Kiara Sweeney scored 17 points along with eight rebounds. Sophomore Casiris Ruiz scored 14 points and had nine assists and six steals. The tournament MVP was awarded to the Twins own Anyla Harper. She finished the tournament with 44 points and 13 rebounds.
The men's championship game began shortly after that with the Twins taking on SUNY Orange. Orange defeated Berkshire Community College in the first round to make their way to the championship game. The game started with the Twins taking an early lead over Orange. They would take a strong lead into halftime, 49 – 37. SUNY Orange caught fire in the second half to put them right back in it. However, the Twins rallied behind Kevin Diaz's five second half threes to squeeze out the win by a final score of 90 – 88. The Twins repeat as Goldberg Classic champions once again. Freshman Kevin Diaz was the leading scorer for the Twins with 25 points off seven made three-pointers in this game. Freshman Kaijah Rodgers scored 13 points. Freshman Isaac McIntosh finished with 11 points. Tournament MVP was awarded to our very own Kevin Diaz as he finished the weekend with 42 points and 10 three-pointers.
You can catch the Twins in action again when they take on Schenectady County Community College at home November 11th. The women's game will begin at 1 pm with the men's game to follow at 3 pm.