We've just archived the summaries on several scrimmages that we covered in the pre-season, the Freshmen and JV Games of the Week, and Freshmen and JV Roundups.

GMC Hoops Summaries--December 29, 2007
Holiday Tournaments--Vaughn Stapleton Classic

Strong Third Quarter Showing Lifts Bridgewater-Raritan To Victory Past Pesky East Brunswick, 60-45

By Greg Machos
December 29, 2007

BRIDGEWATER, NJ—For two and half periods or so against Skyland Conference, Somerset County, and Group IV powerhouse, Bridgewater-Raritan, East Brunswick head coach, Bo Henning had done a masterful job in keeping his young and inexperienced team with the Panthers. Bolstered by the spirited play of senior forward, Scott Stolzenberg, who played perhaps the best game GMC Hoops has seen him play, and the perimeter shooting of junior guard, Alec Mayo, the Bears were only down two at halftime, 26-24, and were still within striking distance at 37-27 about midway through the third. However, led by a fine coach in his own right, Tim Ortelli, and standout player Andy August, the Panthers proved to be too strong in a 60-45 victory in the final game of the last day of action at the 2007 Vaughn Stapleton Classic at BRHS on Saturday night. Over the final two periods of action, Bridgewater-Raritan, the defending three-time Somerset County Champion, outscored East Brunswick by a 34-21 margin. With the victory, the Panthers won all three games they played in the holiday tournament they host with victories over Asbury Park (69-43), Piscataway (55-54) in addition this one. East Brunswick ended the tourney with a 1-2 mark thanks to a victory over Asbury Park on the second day (57-46). Bridgewater ends the 2007 part of the 2007-08 season with only one loss, and that was at the hands of Don Bosco Prep of Ramsey in the first day of action at the 2007 Tip-Off Classic in overtime, 57-54. On the other hand, East Brunswick dropped the fifth of its first seven.

To give you an idea of the disparity between the two teams in terms of experience, take a look at the turnover category. While East Brunswick did an overall fine job of limiting turnovers with 18 for the game, Bridgewater-Raritan, led by the floor generalship of senior guard, Ryan Merten, and Dave Pilla, only committed eight turnovers by our count for the game. Andy August led the way for the Panthers with a game high 16 points on 7 of 10 shooting from the floor as well as a perfect 2 of 2 showing at the line while collecting 3 blocks, a rebound, an assist, and a steal. Both Pilla and Josh Beck chipped in with 12 points on 5 of 8 shooting from the floor while Pilla connected on a three, and collected 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals. Beck picked up four boards, and a steal. On the other side of the ledger for East Brunswick, Stolzenberg was en fuego as he made 7 of 8 shots from the floor for a blazing 87.5 percent, and a team high 15 points while pulling down 11 rebounds for a double-double. Stolzenberg also handed out two assists, swiped a steal, and drew a charge. Mayo did his part to help out by going 4 of 6 from the floor including 3 of 5 from long range for 11 points, 2 rebounds, an assist, and a steal. Unfortunately, the Bears didn't do much outside of Mayo and Stolzenberg as the rest of the team went 6 of 22 for 27.3 percent. For the complete rundown of indivdual stats, take a look at this contest's stat page in the GMC Game Stats Section.

Although he had four assists in the contest along with a charge, senior swingman, Mike Mello was held in check by the Panthers as he didn't get his first field goal until there was just under two minutes left in the game. Comparing the team statistics, East Brunswick ended up making 17 of 36 shots for 47.2 percent, but managed to stay in the game for as long as it did thanks to fine three point shooting led by Mayo. The Bears wound up making 6 of 14 attempts from beyond the arc for a solid 42.9 percent. Conversely, Bridgewater-Raritan only made 2 of 6 attempts from downtown for 33.3 percent, but made up for it by making 26 of 43 shots overall for a rather torrid 60.5 percent. The home team also held edges in rebounding (22-20), assists (16-11), blocks (4-0), and steals (11-3). EB would salvage an advantage in charges (3-0). Except for the second quarter when East Brunswick won the frame narrowly by an 11-9 margin, Bridgewater-Raritan outscored its opponent from Middlesex County despite the fact that the Bears scored in double digits in each period while the home team only managed to do that in three of the four frames. However, a strong 22-11 showing in the third period turned the game in favor of the Panthers as they took a two point halftime advantage, and cultivated it into a 48-35 lead entering the final stanza. In the first period, the Panthers got out to a quick 4-0 lead within the first 58 seconds of play on a layup by Pilla, and an offensive rebound and putback by the senior guard off his own miss when EB coach Henning called for a timeout at the 7:02 mark.

While it was a key timeout to stem the tide, what was more significant was how the relatively young Bear squad responded to it. Now, it didn't seem to take hold right away as Max Schwartz grabbed an offensive rebound off a miss by Pilla, and put it back home for a 6-0 lead, but Mike Kvidahl got East Brunswick on the board as the 6'7" junior forward demonstrated that he had range with a three pointer from the left wing at the 5:24 mark that cut the deficit in half at 6-3, and got the Bears to loosen up a bit offensively. Merten then sank a three pointer for a 9-3 Bridgewater-Raritan lead before Stolzenberg got EB to within four again with a layup from Mello as he was fouled, but missed the bonus charity shot for a 9-5 Panther lead at the 4:30 mark. A little more than a minute later, Stolzenberg stepped up on the defensive end as well by drawing a charge on August. Prior to that, August got a score that made it 11-5 before Mayo began firing with a three pointer from the left wing off a kick out by senior Ray Bryan for an 11-8 Panther lead at the 3:23 mark. Fifty-five seconds later, Mayo struck again from deep with a three that knotted the contest at 11-11 with 2:28 to go in the period. However, Bridgewater-Raritan took control of the game again as the opening frame ended with six of the last eight points for a 17-13 advantage heading into the second. August highlighted the run with two drives for layups while Merten got a steal for another easy basket, and the four point first quarter lead. In the second quarter, EB limited BRHS to just nine points in the frame to garner a two point advantage in the period, and only trail by a bucket at the intermission.

The Bears went right after the Panthers top gun as Mello drew a charge on August for his second personal foul of the game at the 6:32 mark. However, Beck picked up his teammate with a steal for a layup off an errant Mello pass that made the score, 19-13 at the 6:08 mark. A little while later, East Brunswick brought the deficit back down to four again as Mello found Stolzenberg underneath for a layup that made it 19-15 before Cole Wurmstich gave a nice entry pass from the right wing to August down low for a layup that made it 21-15 at the 5;22 mark as the Bears utilized a 30 second timeout. After the stoppage, the Bears again clawed back with four straight points over the next 3:24 mark for a 21-19 Panther lead before August registered a crucial three point play that pushed the margin back up to five at 24-19 with 1:58 remaining in the first half. Continuing to persist though, the Bears continued to show moxy with the next five points including a kick out by Stolzenberg to Mayo for a three pointer that made it 24-22 at the 1:24 mark, and an offensive board and follow by the senior forward off a missed trey attempt by Mayo for a 24-24 tie with 47 seconds left before halftime. However, Bridgewater-Raritan would go into the locker room with the lead at half as Trevor Beasty scored a putback in the waning moments for a 26-24 advantage. Looking at the first half scoring, Mayo led the way for the Bears with 9 points all on threes with a 3 of 4 showing from long range while Stolzenberg chipped in with 4 of 5 from the field for 8 points, 6 rebounds, an assist, a steal, and a charge. August spearheaded the Panthers more balanced attack with 5 of 7 field goals, and a foul shot for 11 points along with two blocks and an assist while Merten helped out with 2 of 3 field goal attempts including a one of two showing from beyond the arc for 5 points, 2 assists, a steal, and a rebound. Pilla also chipped in with 2 of 5 shooting for 4 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals.

Looking at the halftime statistics, East Brunswick did surprisingly well by making 10 of 20 shots in the first half for 50 percent incluidng 4 of 9 from long distance for 44.4 percent. However, Bridgewater-Raritan was just as hot making 12 of 23 from the floor for 52.2 percent including 1 of 2 from deep. The Bears also shot themselves in the foot by committing 11 turnovers versus only five by the Panthers. EB did do a fine job on the boards though with a 12-7 edge thanks to Stolzenberg, who had half the team rebounds. East Brunswick also handed out more assists (7-5), and drew more charges (2-0) while Bridgewater-Raritan held the advantage in steals (7-3) and blocks (2-0). The fine effort in the first half by the Bears would run out of gas as the third quarter commenced. The Panthers scored the first seven points of the second half to add to the half ending putback by Beasty for a 9-0 run, and a 33-24 lead at the 5:48 mark. Schwartz opened things up with an offensive rebound and putback for a 28-24 lead followed by August's second three point play of the game at the 6:28 mark for a 31-24 edge. Forty seconds later, Merten handed out a nice assist on a layup by Beck that stretched the lead to nine with 5:48 remaining in the third. Junior guard, Dustin Schuld got three of his five points on the night on a trey from the right side off an assist by Stolzenberg that temporarily stemmed the tide, but Bridgewater proceeded to regain control as the Panthers scored the next four points including a jumper by Pilla after he dribbled through traffic that made it a 37-27 game at the 4:06 mark of the third. Mello would get his first points of the game on one of two at the line at the 3:25 mark after a layup by Beck from Merten for a 39-28 BRHS lead.

The Bears gave themselves a ray of hope when Schuld drew the final team charge in the game on August for the Panther senior forward's third personal foul at the 1;37 mark of the third. However, the Somerset County school would score 9 of the next 13 points for a 48-32 lead before Bryan made a much needed three pointer that gave EB's faint hopes alive at 48-35 going into the fourth. Unfortunately, the Bears were unable to get much closer than that in the fourth. Wurmstich opened the period with an inbounds pass to Beck underneath for a layup at the 7:02 mark that extended the Panther lead to fifteen at 50-35, and both teams would score ten points each after that as Bridgewater-Raritan came up winners, 60-45. With the victory, Bridgewater returned to conference play with a 6-1 overall mark while East Brunswick dropped to 2-5 overall on the season.

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