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Piscataway Freshmen Defeat E.B. For Sweep, 75-51 |
By Greg Machos
February 7, 2008PISCATAWAY, NJ—For the second time this season, the Little Chiefs of Piscataway defeated the Little Bears of East Brunswick. Awarded he top seed in the 2008 Perth Amboy/GMC Freshmen Tournament, E.B. has now lost only three games all season with the other loss coming just days earlier to St. Joseph's of Metuchen (41-29). The Little Bears knocked off the Little Falcons of St. Joseph's-Green earlier in the season by the score of 58-52 on January 12th at EBHS. The Bear Cubs as GMC Hoops likes to call them also scored an impressive victory on the road over a Cardinal McCarrick team (56-41) that had rallied to defeat Piscataway, 52-48 in South Amboy on January 19th in a previous Freshmen Game of the Week covered by the web site. Earlier in the season, after East Brunswick had knocked off St. Joseph's-Green, which had been unbeaten at that point, lost handily to Piscataway for its first loss of the season, 64-49. To put it simply, it is going to be an interesting couple weeks in the Perth Amboy/GMC Frosh Tourney since it will be perhaps the most unpredictable since the 2005 tournament when South Brunswick reached the Championship Game as a 12th seed before losing to second seeded J.F. Kennedy.
P-Way, which has the potential to play East Brunswick again in the Quarterfinal round since it drew the ninth seed, and will travel to Sayreville for its Round of 16 game next week, got off to a fast start, and never looked back. Arriving late to the contest, GMC Hoops sat down in the Piscataway gym with about three minutes to go in the first period, and the Little Chiefs already up by a score of 15-4. Guard, Isiah Carrington, who had his share of struggles from the perimeter against Cardinal McCarrick several weeks earlier, was on the mark in this one as he spearheaded the early onslaught, and ended up with 15 points on 6 of 11 shooting from the floor, and 2 of 4 from the line. Carrington, who made one of two three point attempts as well, collected 2 steals, 2 rebounds, an assist, and a charge in the final three and a half quarters or so of the contest. Brian Wong, who was blazing in the first period against Cardy Mac, helped out by making 6 of 9 shots from the field including both of his three point attempts for 14 points along with 3 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal, and a block over the final 27 minutes of play. Thiemo Diallo also helped out with 4 of 7 shooting from the floor as well as a perfect 2 of 2 at the line for 10 points along with 2 steals, an assist, and a rebound. Danny Cole also contributed to the balanced scoring attack for the Little Chiefs with 4 of 6 shooting from the floor, and a free throw for 9 points as well as 5 rebounds and a charge over the final three and a half quarters of play.
Brandon Williamson also helped out by connecting on 3 of 7 shots for 6 points while grabbing three rebounds over the final three and a quarter quarters. Aaron Alexander came off the bench to provide some spark and energy with a 2 of 3 effort from the floor for 4 points while collecting 4 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 assists over the final 27 minutes of action. Diminutive in size, but big in heart and enthusiam point guard, Herbie Donerson contributed off the bench as well with a 3 of 6 shooting effort, and a free throw in his only attempt at the line for 7 points in addition to collecting 3 assists, 3 steals, and an offensive board over the final three plus quarters of the contest. Rounding out the Little Chief scoring were: Edgar Boahne (1 of 2 FGs for 2 points), Evan Wilkinson (a three pointer for 3 points and 2 rebounds), Jamal Cummings (a field goal for two points and an assist), and Khalil Adams (a traditional three point play for 3points and an assist). Meanwhile, for East Brunswick, Awab Habib led the Little Bears in a losing cause with a 5 of 7 showing from the floor along with a perfect 3 of 3 at the line for 13 points and 4 rebounds. Jay Chen chipped in with 9 points on 4 of 6 shooting from the floor, and a pefect 1 of 1 at the line while pulling down a rebound. Bobby Fullem contributed in the pivot with a 3 of 5 shooting effort for 6 points as well as 5 rebounds, a steal, and a block in the final 27 minutes of play. Justin Rosa had his struggles from the floor, but still helped out with 5 points as well as 3 assists and 2 boards in the final three and a half quarters.
Anthony Guisti also had five points on a field goal and a three in addition to a defensive rebound, and an assist. Alec Simoes came off the bench for a three pointer, and collected two assists and a steal. Danny Sclafani, the son of former Highland Park head coach, Tom Sclafani, picked up 2 points, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, an assist, and a blocked shot. Nick Gudzak, the younger brother of EB varsity reserve, Anthony Gudzak, made a field goal for 2 points as well as collected 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and a steal over the final three plus periods of play. John Genco didn't make any of his shot attempts, but went 2 of 4 at the charity stripe for his only points while grabbing four rebounds in the final 27 minutes of the game while Adam Scicchitano also rounded out the scoring with a field goal for 2 points as well as 2 steals, and an assist. Tyler Flood (a rebound and a steal), and Aaron Himmelman (offensive rebound and assist) also played, but didn't score. For the game, the Little Chiefs roughly went 32 of 56 from the floor for a scorching 57.1 percent from the floor while East Brunswick roughly made 21 of 52 shots for 40.4 percent. At the line, the Baby Bears made 7 of 16 attempts for 43.8 percent while the Little Wahoos of P-Way made just 7 of 14 shots from the charity stripe for 50 percent. Turnovers also played a big part in Piscataway's success as the home team forced the visitors to commit 18 miscues over the final 27 minutes of action while making only 12 mistakes in the same time frame.
The Little Chiefs had double digit scoring in each of the four periods including a 23 point outburst in the opening period. On the other hand, EB, which was outscored in each quarter, only managed to put up double figure numbers in three of the frames. Upon arriving at the gym, I had a chance to interact with some of the Piscataway varsity players, some of which thought that I was a Rutgers scout coming to see the game. The Rutgers garb that I got for Christmas has definitely gotten me a lot of attention at the games this season. Finally, I sat down in time to see Carrington misfire on both of his free throws, and the score remained at 15-4 with three minutes left in the first. Carrington would atone for his foul shooting woes by striking for a three pointer from the left wing to make the score, 15-4 at the 1:43 mark. Fullem then got EB back on the board with a layup on the Baby Bears next possession for an 18-6 P-Way advantage with exactly a minute and a half to go in the period. Fifty-one seconds later, Carrington struck again with a pull-up jumper that made the score, 20-6. The visitors then got another field goal to close to within a dozen again before Wilkinson, the younger brother of Brandon Wilkinson, who starred on the P-Way varsity several years ago, and is now playing at Lycoming, connected on a trey from the right wing for an 8-4 run to close the stanza, and a 23-8 lead. In the second, Piscataway still managed to outscore the Baby Bears by a 17-14 margin despite EB showing some fight.
Drawing first blood in the second, the Little Chiefs got on the board as Carrington swiped a steal, and went in for the layup, and a 25-8 lead with just a half of a minute gone by in the quarter. On the next EB possession, Chen connected on a turnaround jumper in the left low block for a 25-10 lead, but then Brian Wong got going with a three pointer from the right wing for a 28-10 Piscataway advantage at the 6:55 mark. Simoes would then get his only three of the game for a 28-13 P-Way lead before Cole stepped up to the free throw stripe to make one of two attempts for a 29-13 edge at the 6:11 mark. Guisti then hit his only trey of the game from the left wing at the 5:46 mark to close the gap to just thirteen at 29-16. Moments later, Gudzak got a steal, which led to a Guisti jumper that trimmed the deficit to eleven at 29-18 as P-Way Freshmen coach, Brian Tuskan, called for time with 5:29 to play before the intermission. Following the timeout, Piscataway went to work as Cole scored a layup as he was fouled, but missed the bonus free throw for a 31-18 lead at the 5:22 mark. Donerson then followed that up with a three point play for a 34-18 advantage with 4:22 left. The Little Chiefs then scored six more points for an 11-0 tear, and a commanding 40-18 lead before the Baby Bears closed the half with four points to make it a 40-22 Piscataway lead as both teams went to their respective locker rooms.
In the third period, P-Way picked up right where it left off as Diallo scored on an offensive rebound off a Wong miss, and follow for a 42-22 lead with 6:50 to play in the quarter. Then, following a conventional three point play from Chen at the 5:50 mark for a 42-25 Little Chief lead, Piscataway scored four of the next six points capped by a steal for a layup from Donerson that made the score, 46-27 with 4:22 remaining in the period. The home team then closed out the frame with a 10-9 edge for a twenty point, 56-36 advantage heading into the fourth. In the final period, the reserves on both sides saw plenty of action as Piscataway outscored East Brunswick by a 19-15 margin. The Little Chiefs put the game away within the first 1:55 of the stanza as they scored 11 of the first 13 points for an insurmountable, 67-38 lead with 6:05 to go. Highlighting the tear was a steal by Diallo that led to Adams three point play at the 7:44 mark, and then two steals by Alexander, who then handed out an assist for a layup by Williamson on one, and then scored himself on the other with a layup at the 6:05 mark. The Baby Bears did what they could to make it respectable with a 13-8 finish for the final 75-51 score. With the loss, EB fell to 16-3 overall on the season, and will now face the winner of the South River-St. Joseph's-White game in the Perth Amboy/GMC Freshmen Tournament's Round of 16.
Team |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
Piscataway |
23 | 17 | 16 | 19 | 75 |
East Brunswick (16-3) |
8 | 14 | 14 | 15 | 51 |
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