FINAL SCORE: Apprentice School 88, Williamson Trade 53

RECORDS: Apprentice School 8-8; Williamson Trade 7-11

EVENT: 2015 MLK Classic

LOCATION: Apprentice Athletic Center/Newport News, VA

IN BRIEF: Junior Jay Melendez scored a season-high 30 points as the Apprentice School defeated Williamson Trade 88-53 in the final day of the 2015 MLK Classic on Sunday.

ON THE COURT

• The Mechanics jumped out scoring the first four points on jumpers from Keron Tull and Robert Proctor to lead 4-0 at the 18:46 mark.
• A pair of Tull free throws put the Mechanics up 6-5 with 16:14 left, but then the Builders found another gear going on a 20-5 run over the next 9:18 to lead 25-11 on a pair of Zach Zastrow free throws with 6:56 left in the half.
• Williamson trimmed that margin to nine points twice, the last coming on two Andre Merell free throws with two-tenths of a second left in the half as he was fouled on a 3-point shot to give the halftime score of 39-30 Apprentice School.
• The second half saw the Builders start out on an 18-5 run over the first nearly seven minutes to take a 57-35 lead with 13:05 left on a Jamal Curry jumper.  Williamson responded with a 15-4 flurry of its own to trim the deficit in half as a layup from Taquan Dodson-Guy with 10:06 left brought the Mechanics to 61-50.
• That turned out to be the last points for the Mechanics for over eight minutes as the Builders scored the next 23 points to lead 84-50 on a Jordan Wright layup with 2:29 left.

BEHIND THE BOXSCORE

• Melendez scored 30 points for the first time this year as his previous high was 29 against Penn State Greater Allegheny.  He was 6-for-11 from 3-point range and had another double-double adding 10 rebounds to the outing.
• Curry joined him in the double-double club with 14 points and 11 boards as the Builders out-rebounded the Mechanics 52-25.
• The Builders were 36-of-71 from the floor (50.7%), 8-of-15 from 3-point land (53.3%) and 8-of-9 from the foul line (88.9%).  DeAndre Demiel had eight points and nine assists, while Lavonte Thomas and Cameron Perry also scored eight points each.
• Williamson was paced by David Clapp who was 7-of-12 from 3-point range for a team-high 21 points.

NEXT UP

The men return to the home hardwood next weekend for a pair of games starting Saturday at 6 pm when they face Barber-Scotia College.