GMC Hoops Summaries--Tuesday, November 20, 2007
College Hoops--Regular Season

Drew Rallies From Behind To Edge Muhlenberg, 51-47

By Greg Machos
November 20, 2007

MADISON, NJ--GMC Hoops contiinued its first full season of men's college basketball coverage with a basketball game involving a college team that has two former GMC standouts. The Drew Rangers entered play on Tuesday night with a 1-1 record after playing two games over the weekend in it's own Tip-Off Tournament. In the opening round of the 29th annual Rose City Classic, Drew rallied to win by two in overtime, 57-55 over Washington and Lee on Friday, November 16th. Then, two days later, the Rangers faced off against the 15th ranked team in Division III, Williams College in the Championship Game, and lost 74-58 on Sunday, November 18th. In the victory over Washington and Lee, Chris Lopez and Mike Mayes led the charge. Lopez, who attended high school at Monsignor Farrell on Staten Island, came up with a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds along with 6 steals while teammate Mayes, who went to school at St. Mary's of Elizabeth from the Mountain Valley Conference, chipped in with 17 points. In the loss to Williams, Gerard Mullin, who played high school ball at St. Rose of Belmar, and the Shore Conference, came off the bench and made six of eight attempts from downtown in a 24 point effort. David Cramer added eight points, eight boards, and four assists in the defeat as well.

Meanwhile, Muhlenberg, which is trying to fill the void left behind by former St. Joseph's standout, Tom Scott, also began the year at .500 through its first two games. Hosting the Scotty Wood Tournament over this past weekend, the Mules rolled past Philadelphia Biblical in its opening round game, 107-37. On the following night though, Muhlenberg came down to earth with a near twenty point loss to Curry, 91-72. The 107 points scored against Philadelphia Biblical in their opener was a school record while three players put up double digit scoring in the loss to Curry as Union Catholic's own Obi Nwizugbo connected on 5 of 7 shots for 13 points, Evan Tozer added 11 points, and former Hanover Park standout, Brian Frankoski led the way with 16 points. According to the Drew's game program for the contest, both teams have played each other six times since the series began 63 years ago in 1944. According to Drew's Sports and Information Director, Alex Langlois, the two teams competed against each other a couple days before Thanksgiving last year as well, and it was also a thriller as Drew came from behind on a three pointer with less than five seconds to go for a 55-54 victory. Each team has won three times so the winner of this year's battle will take the lead in the series.

Drew is now a member of the recently formed Landmark Conference, which consists of Catholic University, Drew, Goucher, Juniata, Merchant Marine, Moravian, Scranton, and Susquehanna, came over from the Freedom Conference, where it used to compete with Madison Avenue rival, FDU Florham. Last year, the Rangers finished up below .500 at 9-15 including a 6-5 mark at home, 1-10 record on the road, and a 2-0 record at neutral sites. The Rangers closed out its last season in the Freedom Conference with a 4-10 regular season record, and a first round loss to Wilkes University in the post-season conference tournament. According to the pre-season conference poll, Drew is projected to finish tied for sixth in the eight team conference with the Merchant Marine Academy. Scranton is projected to finish first while Susquehanna is picked for second, and Catholic University, a team that went 23-6 last season, and reached the second round of the Division III Tournament, is predicted to finish third. On the other side of the ledger, Muhlenberg, a member of the Centennial Conference, was picked to finish ninth out of the ten member league. Ursinus, which also competed in Drew's Rose City Classic over the weekend, and lost to Williams (88-73) in the first round, but defeated Washington and Lee in the Consolation, 77-73, is picked to win the conference crown.

Prior to the start of the men's game, there was a women's game that got underway at 6:00 PM. Looking to get to the gym early in case there were any problems traveling to, or locating the facility, the web site arrived early enough to catch the entire contest between the Lady Rangers of Drew and the Lady Raptors of Rutgers Camden. Despite getting lost in transit to its contest, Rutgers Camden overcame a sluggish offensive start to pull away at the end of the first half for a 29-18 lead, and then withstood a charge by Drew midway through the second half to cruise to a 63-45 victory. Amber Parker, a graduate of Pennsauken High School in South Jersey came up with not only big shots on offense, but clutch plays on defense as well as great leadership in the win.

Parker, who went 5 of 7 from the floor including a perfect 3 of 3 from beyond the arc, and made 3 of 4 at the line for 16 points as well as two rebounds and an assist, made two three pointers and scored 9 points during a key late first half 18-7 tear including one from the right wing at the 1:49 mark for a 24-16 lead. However, it was the charge that Parker drew at the 10:17 mark that halted a 9-0 spurt by the Lady Rangers that helped them close to within four at 36-32. Lady Raptors forward, Karima Blackwell, who played high school hoops at Sterling in South Jersey, turned in a monster performance though with a double-double of 21 points (8 of 13 FGs and 5 of 7 FTs) and 17 rebounds (13 defensive and 4 offensive) to lead all scorers on the night.

Getting back to the men's game, Drew has a couple players that competed in the Greater Middlesex Conference during their high school careers including senior forward, Scott Miller formerly of Piscataway High School, and reserve guard, Travis DeNapoli, who formerly played at Dunellen High School. Miller was on the Piscataway Chief team coached by Tony DiGiovanni that took top seeded and undefeated South Plainfield to overtime before losing in the Quarterfinal Round of the 2004 Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament by a score of 59-56. The Tigers went on to defeat St. Joseph's in the semifinals and then won its first ever conference/county title by defeating White Division rival, Colonia.

Meanwhile, DeNapoli was on the Dunellen Destroyer team that reached the semifinal round of the 2006 North Jersey Section 2 Group III State Tournament before losing to defending Group I Champion, Newark Science. Travis' older brother Todd, who graduated DHS in 2005, plays at Landmark Conference rival, Susquehanna. So, as proud parent and GMC Hoops supporter, Tom DeNapoli stated, "there will be a lot of trash talking" when the two teams meet on January 18th at Susquehanna, and again later in the season at Drew on February 17th. Over the first two games of the season, Miller has averaged 19.5 minutes per game, and made 1 of 5 field goals, 3 of 4 foul shots for a 2.5 point per game average while grabbing 2.5 rebounds per game, and handing out one assist per contest. In the last game against Williams, Miller was saddled with foul trouble, and only played 13 minutes after playing twice as much in the opener.

Drew started out the contest strong as Lopez, who wound up with a game high 21 points on 6 of 10 shooting from the floor including 4 of 6 from three, and 5 of 7 foul shots, came out firing by making each of his first four shots. In addition, Mullin and Mayes each added four points on two field goals to give Drew a seemingly commanding 21-9 lead at the 6:10 mark of the first half. However, Muhlenberg rallied with a 12-1 tear to close the half as the Rangers managed to go without a field goal over the final six plus minutes of the half for just a 22-21 lead at the intermission. In the second half, the Mules, which outscored Drew by a 38-21 margin over a 22:12 span for a 47-42 lead with 3:58 left, appeared to be on their way to a win, but the Rangers, led by Cramer, who came up with four of his seven points as well as a steal during the game closing 9-0 run, rallied to come from behind for an exciting 51-47 win.

According to the stats provided by the folks at Drew, the Rangers shot 17 of 44 from the field for 38.6 overall including 5 of 15 from three for 33 percent. Meanwhile, Muhlenberg shot slighlty worse at 16 of 42 from the floor for 38.1 percent including 6 of 22 from downtown for 27.3. The Mules did have the edge at the charity stripe going 9 of 11 including a perfect 7 of 7 in the second half for 81.8 percent while Drew University had some struggles only going 12 of 20 for 60 percent. The taller Muhlenberg team did control the boards with a 30-23 advantage including a 7-6 edge on the offensive glass, and eight blocked shots including seven by 6'9" center, Peter Barnes, who played behind Duke's Brian Zoubek while at Haddonfield High School, a Group II powerhouse.

Drew had fewer assists (6-9) and turnovers (9-16) while forcing more steals (9-3). Fouls were even as each team ended up with 15 apiece. Neither team had a player foul out although Ryan Foster (18 points on 7 of 9 field goals including 2 of 4 threes, and 2 of 2 at the line along with a steal, assist, and rebound), Barnes (2 points, 6 rebounds, 7 blocks, and a steal), and Miller (2 points, 2 assists, and a rebound) each picked up four fouls in the contest. Muhlenberg had two players scored in double figures while Drew only had one. Ten players got into the game for the Mules including seven that broke into the scoring column while nine played for the Rangers (except DeNapoli). Seven of Drew's players also got on the board in front of an estimated home crowd of 225 people.

The home team went to work right away with an 8-0 spurt over the first 4:27 of the opening half as Lopez connected on three pointers from the right wing at the 18:23 mark, and the left corner at the 16:55 mark, and Mayes got a bucket on a pump fake, and drive to his right for a jumper at the 17:38 mark. Meanwhile, on defense, former St. Peter's Prep standout, Nelson Albino, who actually hails from Parlin, and competed against GMC teams in the Rahway Tournament his senior season with the Maruaders, drew a charge at the 16:38 mark. Muhlenberg didn't get on the board until after it had called a timeout at the 15:33 mark. Mike Bernardini, who scored 10 points and grabbed 6 rebounds, got the Mules first points and field goal on a layup at the 14:37 mark to make it 8-2.

Making his presence felt, Barnes made a huge blocked shot on Mullin as the junior from Freehold went in for a layup at the 14:06 mark. Nearly fifteen seconds later, Nwizugbo, who hails from Roselle, and ended up with 5 points (2 of 4 field goals including 1 of 2 from three), 3 rebounds, and a block, made a jumper from the left wing to cut the deficit in half at 8-4 with 13:52 remaining in the half. On the next possession, Miller, who was always known as a fine passer for a big man at Piscataway, made his second kick out for an assist on another three pointer by Lopez at the 13:25 mark for an 11-4 lead. A little less than a half minute later though, the Mules got back on the board as Foster canned a jumper from the right side for his first field goal of the contest that made the score, 11-6 at the 12:57 mark. Mullin then replied on the next Ranger possession with a foul line jumper that gave his team a seven point, 13-6 lead with just inside twelve and a half minutes remaining in the first half.

Replying quickly, the Mules went again to Foster, who sank another jumper at the 12:06 mark to pull within five at 13-8. Scores continued to be exchanged as Drew responded with a Cramer layup at the 11:41 mark for his first field goal of the game that pushed the Ranger lead back to seven again at 15-8. Over the next 5:31 though, Drew University managed to put Muhlenberg in a very precarious position with six of the next seven points for a twelve point lead. The 6-1 mini-run was highlighted by a Mayes rebound and assist on a finger roll layup by Mullin to make the score 17-8 at the 11:11 mark, a Lopez layup at the 10:38 mark for a 19-8 lead, and a drive for a short jumper along the left baseline by Mayes for a 21-9 advantage at the 6:10 mark. The only points scored by the Mules during this stretch came with 8:12 to go in the half as Frankoski netted one of two at the line.

However, the game turned after Mayes jumper as the Rangers went 0 of 7 from the field including five missed shots from three over the balance of the half. Lopez missed three shot attempts while Mayes missed two attempts. Simultaneously, Muhlenberg began to gain momentum, and more importantly, develop a rhythm offensively. The Mules went 4 of 7 from the floor in the last six minutes and change including 3 of 5 from beyond the arc. Darrell Roth, who collected 6 points, 2 rebounds, an assist, and a steal in the contest, got all of his scoring during the stretch with threes on back to back possessions at the 5:14 and 4:41 marks respectively. Nwizugbo added a trey of his own while Tim Murray (2 points and a rebound) scored his only points of the game on a layup that sparked the rally at the 5:46 mark. The only point Drew got during the stretch was on one of two from the foul line by former Princeton Day product, Dave Pepperman, who connected on one of two at the line with 1:51 remaining in the half.

Leading 22-21 at the intermission, the Drew Rangers went 9 of 25 from the floor for 36 percent while Muhlenberg was slightly better with an 8 of 22 effort for 36.4 percent. Both teams made three from long range, but the home team shot better at 3 of 9 for 33 percent versus 3 of 12 by the visitors for 25 percent. Each team shot 50 percent at the line, but the Mules went 2 of 4 while the Rangers were just 1 of 2. Lopez led the charge for Drew University with 4 of 7 shooting for 57.1 percent including 3 of 4 from beyond the arc for 75 percent while Roth led a more balanced attack for Muhlenberg with 6 points on 2 of 5 shooting (all from three point land). The Mules defense was the story in the latter portion of the first half as the team collected six blocks in the period including five alone by Barnes. In the second half, Drew went up by eight on a 10-3 spurt in the first 4:18, but as in the first half, the Mules settled down, and rallied with a 23-10 surge for its biggest lead of the contest. As a matter of fact, neither team had a lead bigger than a dozen points while there were a total of six lead changes and two ties with the majority occurring in the second half.

Looking to regain the momentum, Drew started the second half just like it had begun the game. Mayes sank a pull up jumper at the 19:23 mark for the first team field goal in the last 6:47 for a 24-21 lead. Despite a charge drawn by Nwizugbo on Miller at the 18:33 mark, the Rangers continued to flourish as Lopez was fouled on a three point attempt, and netted three foul shots at the 17:46 mark for a 27-21 advantage. Miller then got his only points of the game with a foul line jumper off an assist by Cramer (7 points on 3 of 5 FGs and 1 of 3 FTs, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, and an assist) for a 29-21 lead with 16:28 to go in the contest. The Mules finally put an end to the 7-0 run with a three pointer from the right side by Bernardini at the 15:42 mark for a 29-24 score. Bernardini's score was the first field goal by the visitors since the 35.2 second mark of the first half. Lopez would respond on Drew's very next possession with a three pointer from the right wing to put the Rangers back up by eight at 32-24 with 14:38 to go.

However, the Mules began to fight back as Barnes recorded his only points of the game on a two handed jam at the 15:21 mark for a 32-26 Drew lead, and after Cramer made one of two at the foul line for a four point, 33-29 edge with 13:36 left, Foster scored four straight points on a left baseline jumper at the 13:25 mark, and a pair of free throws following a steal and being fouled on the drive to tie the game up for the first time since tip-off at 33-33 with 13:11 remaining. Lopez put the Rangers back on top with a pivot and spin for a turnaround jumper from near the top of the key for a 35-33 score at the 12:37 mark. Drew University had an opportunity to go back up by four, but Foster drew a charge on Cramer with a little more than twelve minutes remaining to keep it a two point game. Foster, who scored nine straight points over a span of 4:43, made a three pointer from the left corner on the very next possession to give Muhlenberg its first lead of the night at 36-35 with 10:48 to play. Nearly a minute later, Foster was back at it again with a layup from Frankoski on the break to give the Mules a three point edge at 38-35 a little more than midway through the second half.

Drew's coach, Walter Townes would call timeout several moments later at the 9:47 mark, and following the stoppage, the Rangers got their first points in almost three minutes as Pepperman stepped up to the line again to sink one of two for a 38-36 Muhlenberg lead with 9:43 left. Exactly forty seconds later, the Rangers grabbed three offensive rebounds, and Pepperman cashed in a bit with another one of two showing at the line for a 38-37 Mule lead with 9:03 to play as Foster picked up his third personal foul. On a subsequent Muhlenberg possession, Miller returned the favor by picking up his fourth foul of the night that resulted in two from the charity stripe by Frankoski to give the visitors a three point lead again at 40-37 with 8:21 left. Almost a half minute after that, Lopez, who added 10 more points in the second half on 2 of 3 field goals including 1 of 2 from three, and 5 of 7 free throws, got the home team back on the board with two foul shots for a 40-39 Mule lead at the 7:53 mark. Neither team scored for over a minute and a half until Mullin swiped a steal, and scored his final points of the game on a drive for a layup from the right side to put Drew ahead again by one at 41-40 with 6:13 to go in regulation.

On the next Muhlenberg possession, Bernardini gave the Mules the lead back with a jumper that made the score, 42-41 at the 5:52 mark. The visitors were able to get the ball back after a scramble for a loose ball was won by Muhlenberg as Bernardini was alert enough to call a 30 second timeout with 5:01 to play. Following the stoppage, the Mules went ahead by three again as Foster drove along the left baseline for a short one handed shot that made the score, 44-41 with 4:43 to go. Twenty seconds later, Drew pulled within a basket as Mayes made one of two from the free throw line with 4:23 left. Then, on the next Mule possession, the Centennial Conference member got is final points of the game as a Barnes offensive rebound got into the hands of Bernardini for a three point attempt that he was fouled on by Mayes. The result was three foul shots for a 47-42 edge with just inside four minutes to play.

However, Drew would rally to pull out the win. Mayes sparked the comeback with a penetration and kick out to Bobby Clackner of Parsippany Hills, who got his only points of the game with a clutch three pointer from the right side to trim the deficit to two at 47-45 with 3:25 left. On the next possession, Cramer got a steal at the 3:15 mark, and eventually scored when he took in a pass from Lopez on the right low block, and made a nice move for a basket that knotted things at 47-47 at the 2:47 mark. Muhlenberg had a chance to take the lead, but turned the ball over prior to calling for time with 2:19 remaining. Following the stoppage, Drew had the ball, and was looking to score when there was a jump ball call at the 1:39 mark.

After some deliberation at the scorer's table, Drew was awarded possession, and ultimately took the lead for good as Cramer got the ball and drove along the right baseline for a layup while being fouled, but missed the bonus free throw for a 49-47 Ranger lead with 1:07 left. The Mules tried to tie things up on their next possession, but Lopez got a huge steal at the 49.5 mark, and then Mayes put the game away with a pair of free throws with 23.6 remaining to round out the final 51-47 score. With the victory, Drew University raised its record to 2-1 on the season while Muhlenberg dropped to 1-2. The Rangers will be back in action again after the Thanksgiving holiday is over when they travel to the College of Staten Island for 7:00 PM game on Monday, November 26th. Meanwhile, the Mules next game will be on the road against Haverford on Wednesday, November 28th in its first conference game of the season.

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