ARNOLD, MD – The Anne Arundel Community College men's basketball team snapped an eight-game skid with an exciting 84-79 win over visiting Montgomery College Saturday afternoon. Four Riverhawks scored in double digits and got 32 points from the bench in their first Maryland JUCO Conference win of the season.
Davon Jones led the Riverhawks with 18 points and three blocks. Joseph Chase added 16 points and six steals, while Jamar Young added 16 points off the bench. Aaron McGriff scored 11 points to go with six assists in the start.
The teams traded the lead early before AACC used a 10-0 run to double up the Raptors, 16-8. Montgomery College quickly rallied back to knot the game at 16 and take the lead on a free throw before AACC made a wholesale substitution.
The reserves brought AACC back into the lead capped by a three-point play from Young with 8:24 left in the half. With the Riverhawks up by three, the starters returned to the court and pushed AACC to a seven-point lead before heading to the locker room up by three, 48-45.
The Riverhawks held the lead for the entire second half, leading by as many as nine, and by as little as one at the nine-minute mark when Hank Roll capped an 8-0 Montgomery run with a jumper.
AACC extended the lead back to eight, 80-72, with under two minutes to go. Montgomery scored five in a row to get within three, but a pair of free throws from Jones pushed AACC back up by five, 82-77, with just 13 ticks left on the clock.
Montgomery went to the line on its next possession, and Agyei Edwards knocked down a pair to again make it a one-possession game with eight seconds left. A Raptors full time out set up Montgomery for a long inbound, but Chase forced the turnover and nailed a pair of free throws off the ensuing foul.
Anne Arundel scored 23 points off of 18 Montgomery turnovers, forcing 13 of the Raptors' miscues. It was the first conference loss for Montgomery, which averages 91.3 points per game.
The Riverhawks welcomed the Anne Arundel Sharks basketball team of Anne Arundel County Special Olympics for a halftime competition.
AACC is back in action on Friday, January 24th in a 7 pm game at CCBC Catonsville.