The summaries of all the games played in the first, second, and third weeks 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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Vikings Hold Off Minutemen While Hillside Survives Late Rally |
The regular season officially concluded yesterday at the 2004 Elizabeth Summer League at Jefferson House in Elizabeth with the South Brunswick Vikings earning the top seed in the upcoming tournament while also beating the one team it has lost to this summer, Elizabeth. Meanwhile, in earlier action, Hillside, which had a 41-23 lead after three quarters, had to hold off a serious rally by St. Peter's of Staten Island to win, 49-41.
The Comets, which are seeded third in the upcoming tournament next week, jumped out to a 28-16 halftime lead before increasing that lead to eighteen after three quarters, 41-23. Hillside managed to do that with a 6-1 spurt over the final 4:39 of the quarter. The Comets then built up their largest lead at 20 points with a 4-2 run to open the final stanza for a 45-25 score.
However, the Eagles didn't quit as they finished the game with a 16-4 surge against Hillside's reserves. There just wasn't enough time for St. Peter's of Staten Island to completely overcome the deficit. With the victory, Hillside enters the tournament at 9-3 while St. Peter's drops to 3-8 on the summer. The Eagles will take on Nazareth of Brooklyn in the first round of playoff action on Monday.
In the nightcap game, South Brunswick avenged its only loss of the summer behind a solid all around performance by forward, Nick Fazio, who collected a double double of 15 points and 11 rebounds along with 2 assists, 2 blocks, and 2 charges despite also having seven turnovers. Teammate, Joe Clancy also chipped in with 8 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal, and a charge. Mike Micheck, who did a superb job at point guard, handed out seven assists along with two steals, two rebounds, and five points.
Micheck also only committed two turnovers on the night. As a matter of fact, the Vikings did a decent job minimizing turnovers until the fourth quarter when Elizabeth made its run. Brian Morgan also helped out with four rebounds and three steals while John Perry-Okonny, whom we saw for the first time this summer with the Vikings, added two points and two rebounds. Also worth mentioning was Devon Young, who put in a solid effort as well underneath.
Leading the way for Elizabeth was senior guard, Corey Williams, who netted a couple three pointers in the second half to help lead the charge, particularly in the fourth quarter for the Minutemen. South Brunswick, which had a lot of their varsity players including Dan Stonkus, Mike Zwiren, Tommy Hill (who is still recovering from an injury this past season), Coron Short, Brent Hunt, and Tracy Hudson, out, really didn't a fine job scrappying for loose balls, drawing charges (Vikings had three), and most importantly, holding their poise against an athletic Elizabeth squad, which was also not at full strength.
Fazio opened the scoring with one of two free throws for a 1-0 lead. South Brunswick ended up going 7 of 11 at the charity stripe with many of the free throws coming down the stretch to seal the win. Elizabeth responded with the next three points after the Vikings called for time at the 6:36 mark of the first quarter. With 3:25 left, South Brunswick went on a 10-2 run to finish the period with a 11-5 after one.
In the second period, Elizabeth dominated the first half of the quarter by scoring the only four points in the first 5:06 to make it an 11-9 game with 4:54 to play before halftime. However, the Minutemen would have to call timeout at the two minute mark after Joe Clancy got a bucket off an offensive rebound and putback to give South Brunswick a four point cushion again at 13-9. Both teams would exchange baskets before the half to make the score 15-11 in favor of the Vikings at intermission.
In the second half, South Brunswick came out hard as Nick Fazio spearheaded the attack by doing it all with rebounding, scoring, drawing charges, and blocking shots. The Vikings were able to feed off Fazio's energy to go on a 9-5 run over the first 5:21 of the third quarter to increase their lead to 24-16. South Brunswick then held Elizabeth scoreless over the final 4:39 while getting another basket to make the score 26-16 going into the fourth.
Leading by their biggest margin of the game, South Brunswick went into a lull early in the fourth period as Williams and his Minutemen teammates got a spark with two straight three pointers, and a layup to make it 26-24 with only 5:30 remaining. However, on the very next possession, Fazio and Clancy hooked up for a give and go that resulted in a layup to make it 28-24 with 5:13 to play. Then, Fazio gave the Vikings what seemed to be a very formidable six point lead at 30-24 with a score down low with 1:40 left.
Elizabeth fought back though as they did throughout much of the final period as they put together two straight baskets that took advantage of some of the turnover difficulties South Brunswick was having. With the score now 30-28, Mike Micheck netted two free throws to make it 32-28 with 1:07 to go, but then the Minutemen came right back down the floor for an easy layup after going over the top of the South Brunswick defense for the score.
The easy basket resulted in an Elizabeth timeout, and out of that timeout, the Minutemen quickly fouled Micheck again. Micheck sank only one of two free throws with 1:03 to go to make the score 33-30. On the very next possession, Elizabeth attempted to tie the game with a three pointer, but missed and Fazio came up with a big rebound that led to Joe Clancy getting fouled. Clancy hit one of two free throws with 0:43 to play, and then got his own rebound, and was fouled again.
Calmly hitting the two free throws, Clancy made the score 36-30 with only 40 seconds left, which essentially put the game away for good although Nick Fazio would come up with a layup as he was fouled with ten seconds to go to shape the final, 38-30 margin. With the win, South Brunswick finished the regular season at 10-1 while Elizabeth ended up 15-6. Both will likely matchup against each other in the playoffs as the Vikings are the top seed while Elizabeth is the fourth seed. See the latest scores and standings.
Team |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
South Brunswick (10-1) |
11 | 4 | 11 | 12 | 38 |
Elizabeth (15-6) |
5 | 6 | 5 | 14 | 30 |
Team |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
Hillside (9-3) |
13 | 15 | 13 | 8 | 49 |
St. Peter's (S.I.) (3-8) |
6 | 10 | 7 | 18 | 41 |
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South Brunswick Downs Immaculata While JPS Slips To Elizabeth |
The South Brunswick Vikings sealed the top seed in the upcoming tournament at the Elizabeth Summer League by knocking off Immaculata of Somerville by a score of 41-30. Meanwhile, the other member school in the Greater Middlesex Conference, J.P. Stevens had a solid performance although it ended in defeat to Elizabeth, 54-47.
So, with the win, Elizabeth earned the fourth seed in the tourney while Immaculata received the 12th spot, and J.P. Stevens is matched up against seventh seeded Rahway as the tenth seed. In other action, Curtis of Staten Island defeated St. Joseph's of Staten Island, 60-47, Elizabeth downed Rahway, 47-44, Hillside upended Nazareth of Brooklyn, 46-35, Summit trounced Roselle, 57-35, and Westfield routed St. Peter's of Staten Island, 67-26. See the latest scores and standings.
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Vikings Cruise Past Rams While Westfield Upends Stevens |
South Brunswick continued its winning ways with a solid 49-31 victory over Roselle on Monday night at the Elizabeth Summer League held at Jefferson House in Elizabeth. Meanwhile, J.P. Stevens lost to a Westfield team that is showing signs of improvement from earlier in the summer as the Blue Devils won 57-43.
In other action, Summit edged Hillside in overtime, 51-46, Nazareth defeated Rahway in a double overtime barnburner, 57-55, St. Joseph's also won in overtime over arch rival, St. Peter's, 57-55, Immaculata surprised Elizabeth, 51-40, and Curtis also won over the Minutemen. See the latest scores and standings.
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