The summaries of all the games played in the first week of the Elizabeth Summer League have not vanished, we have archived them. So, feel free to take a look if you have missed out on some of the action from earlier this year.
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Depleted Vikings Still Manage To Win Impressively, 53-34 |
Only six guys playing and no Dan Stonkus? Well, South Brunswick wasn't worried. Despite encountering a slow start, and falling behind to Nazareth of Brooklyn, 11-9 early on in the first half, the Vikings exploded with a barrage of three pointers that helped open things up for their offense while their stifiling defense shut down the Kingsmen of the New York Catholic League.
The result, a very impressive 53-34 victory by the Vikings to earn their fourth straight victory of this early summer. Meanwhile, in other action, Westfield had a seven point, 40-33 lead with about two and a half minutes remaining, and then pulled away down the stretch by scoring six of the last eight points to defeat Roselle, which is still winless, 46-35. Rahway, which also didn't have many of its starters, rallied in the fourth quarter with a 14-6 showing to defeat St. Joseph's of Staten Island, 50-45.
Our other GMC school participating in the Elizabeth Summer League, J.P. Stevens, lost to one of the Elizabeth squads, 44-31 while Summit got back on track after losing to South Brunswick the night before by defeating Immaculata, 40-37. We are still waiting for results of two other games: Elizabeth vs. Hillside, and Curtis of Staten Island vs. St. Peter's of Staten Island.
In the game between St. Joe's of Staten Island and Rahway, the Indians, which just had one of the regular starters playing, had to fight an uphill battle in this one. St. Joseph's jumped out to a 19-15 first half lead with 2:30 to go, and maintained that four point edge at the break, 23-19. They increased that lead to six after three with an 11-9 showing in the third stanza to make the score 34-28. However, in the fourth quarter, Rahway rallied by first going on a 7-4 run over the first 4:22 of the final period to cut the deficit to three at 38-35 with 5:38 remaining as St. Joe's called for time.
Then, the Indians grabbed the lead for good with a 9-4 run over the next 4:35 to make it 44-42 with 1:03 left as the opposing squad from New York called a timeout. Coming out of the timeout, Rahway closed out their first win of the summer with a 6-3 burst including two free throws with only four seconds left to seal the win, 50-45. St. Joseph's of Staten Island dropped to 2-2. In the featured game, a nightcap tussle between South Brunswick and Nazareth, the Vikings only had six players available including Mike Zwiren, Nick Fazio, and Joe Clancy.
At first, the lack of players appeared to be having an effect, as the Vikings struggled to get their offense going. Nazareth held them to just five points in the first quarter, and led 7-5 going into the second quarter, and 11-9 with 5:20 remaining in the half despite missing two free throws. However, South Brunswick came to life with a flurry of three pointers by soon to be sophomore, Brian Morgan, that sparked not only an 8-2 run to close the first half for a 17-13 lead, but also helped open the second half with a 14-8 run that was capped by a Zwiren three pointer for a 31-21 lead with 6:05 to go in the third period.
From that point on, South Brunswick relaxed, the offense opened up with nice pass plays for baskets on the inside while the defense kept Nazareth at Bay. The Vikings, which did a tremendous job, scrambling for loose balls, getting rebounds, drawing charges, and just overall great hustle, got a couple nice baskets from Nick Fazio including one off a feed from Joe Clancy to make the score 35-21 with 4:00 left in the stanza. South Brunswick ended up outscoring Nazareth 20-10 in the third period, and 32-16 over the middle two quarters to build up their 37-23 lead going into the final period of play.
Pounding the offensive glass to start the fourth quarter, South Brunswick was able to get an offensive rebound and foul, which resulted in two free throws for a 39-23 lead with 9:19 left to play. The Vikings then increased that lead to 18 with a 4-2 run over the next 4:36 to make the score 43-25 with 4:43 to go. From there, on the teams traded points with South Brunswick getting the edge 10-9 for the 53-34 final. Some of the players on the Viking squad that made key contributions in the three point barrage, were doing double duty on Thursday night as they came from playing at Colonia in the JV Summer League. See the latest scores and standings.
Team |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
South Brunswick (4-0) |
19 | 10 | 11 | 6 | 55 |
Nazareth (1-3) |
9 | 13 | 9 | 15 | 52 |
Team |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
Rahway (1-3) |
9 | 10 | 9 | 22 | 50 |
St. Joseph's (S.I.) (2-2) |
10 | 13 | 11 | 11 | 45 |
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Vikings Win Again While Stevens Loses Close One |
South Brunswick continued its impressive start at the Elizabeth Summer League as the Vikings defeated Summit, which plays in the very tough Iron Hills Conference. Last year, the Hilltoppers went 24-5, and have a couple good players returning from that team. Both teams entered the game 2-0 with Summit downing Curtis of Staten Island in overtime on opening night, and then beating a second Elizabeth Squad on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Vikings, which won its third straight by defeating the Hilltoppers, 49-42, came into the contest with two solid wins over Mountain Valley Conference and Union County powers, Rahway and Hillside, which both have tremendous athleticism, and love to play an up tempo style. In other action, our other GMC school in this league, J.P. Stevens, dropped a tough loss to Curtis of Staten Island, 45-43. The Hawks are now 2-1 on the summer.
Other games saw Elizabeth teams collect wins over Rahway (44-37) and Nazareth of Brooklyn (51-43). Hillside rolled past Immaculata while Roselle remained winless after losing to St. Peter's of Staten Island in a rather high scoring affair, 75-68. After losing two tough games to start the summer, St. Peter's finally broke into the wiin column. St. Joseph's of Staten Island gave the New York Borough a third win on the night as they edged Westfield 44-42. See the latest scores and standings.
| South Brunswick Knocks Off Hillside...Again, 42-39 |
The second week of action kicked off at the Elizabeth Summer League, which resumed its play at its usual spot, Jefferson House. That didn't bother the South Brunswick Vikings as for the second time this summer, they knocked off Union County power, Hillside from the Mountain Valley Conference, 42-39. Earlier in the summer at the 2004 Kean Team Week, South Brunswick, which ended up going 9-1 overall there, defeated Hillside as well.
In other action, another Greater Middlesex Conference team came away with a win as J.P. Stevens downed St. Peter's of Staten Island in a close one, 55-50. Elizabeth stayed undefeated with a 60-35 win over Watchung Conference rival, Westfield. Rahway reamined winless as it lost to former Mountain Valley Conference foe, Immaculata, 39-26. The Spartans will be moving into the Skyland Conference this coming season, and play in the Delaware East Division.
Two other games saw Curtis of Staten Island edge Nazareth of Brooklyn from the New York Catholic League, 38-33 while Summit defeated another Elizabeth squad, which is now in the league to replace Barringer, which withdrew prior to the start of the season last Thursday, 51-39. And, in the very first game of the evening, St. Joseph's of Staten Island defeated Roselle, 52-44. See the latest scores and standings.
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