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 men's championship game began shortly after the women's championship game 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 11^th.  The women's game will begin at 1 pm with the men's game to follow at 3 pm.