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St. Joseph's-Green Advances To Frosh Final Four, 44-33 |
By Greg Machos
February 14, 2008METUCHEN, NJ—On Thursday afternoon, prior to heading over to Carteret to watch the Ramblers battle Sayreville in the Round of 16 of the 2008 GMCT, GMC Hoops made a return trip to the fabled Bird Cage in Metuchen to see the Little Falcons of St. Joseph's-Green take on Perth Amboy in the Quarterfinals of the 2008 Perth Amboy/GMC Freshmen Tournament. Earlier in the season, we had an opportunity to see the Little Falcons move up to 8-0 with a convincing 44-24 victory over Colonia's freshmen team on January 5th. Since that time, St. Joseph's-Green, has dropped three games including a 58-52 decision to East Brunswick at EBHS on January 12th, a 38-35 game at Perth Amboy on January 29th, and a recent 53-44 defeat at Cardinal McCarrick on Saturday, February 9th. The winner of this contest will advance to face either Bishop Ahr, or Cardinal McCarrick in one of the semifinals at Perth Amboy High School on February 20th. St. Joseph's-Green would be the one to punch the ticket, and give the school it's second straight Final Four appearance at Perth Amboy with St. Joseph's-White earning the trip last season.
Clinging to a tenuous four point, 19-15 lead at the half following a 4-0 run by Perth Amboy that closed out the second period, the Little Falcons of St. Joseph's-Green came out fired up with ten straight points over a span of just two and a half minutes to go up by fourteen at 29-15. Although, Amboy made things interesting with a late run to close within nine, St. Joseph's did a solid job spreading the floor, and taking time off the clock to emerge victorious, 44-33. Keying the pivotal early second half run was point guard, Ace Sudah, who got his only two field goals in the contest with three pointers from the right wing, and the top of the key in just 55 seconds to cap the tear. Sudah ended up with 6 points, and handed out five assists while also collecting three rebounds, and a steal over the final 25 minutes of action. Kevin Mayce made three field goals in roughly seven attempts while making all six of his shots from the charity stripe for a game high 12 points along with 6 rebounds (5 offensive), 3 steals, an assist, and a block over the final three plus periods of action. Forward, Austen Mesar, connected on 5 of 10 shots from the floor for 10 points along with 10 boards in the final three quarters plus of action for a double-double while also picking up 2 steals and an assist. Kevin Waitikovich did a fine job of playing with poise by making a field goal, and netting 5 of 8 free throws for 7 points along with 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals over the final 25 minutes of play.
Slay Sudah struggled from the field, and ended up with only 4 points on two field goals, but grabbed six boards over the final three plus periods of play, two steals, and a assist. Rounding out the scoring were Matthew Hratko (a field goal and 2 of 2 at the line for 4 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals) and Brandon Dolan (a point on 1 of 3 free throws). Sam Afflu and Kevin Gilsenan also played, but didn't score. For Perth Amboy, Canela made a three pointer, and was perfect on all four of his free throws for 7 points while Verdecie (3 of 7 shooting for 6 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 blocks), Taveras (3 of 6 field goals for 6 points, 3 assists, 3 steals, and 2 rebounds), and Hernandez (three field goals for 6 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals) all had six points each. Ayala (2 of 6 FGs for 4 points, 8 rebounds, two blocks, and a steal) and Encarnacion (2 of 5 FGs for 4 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals) rounded out the scoring for the Little Panthers. Maisonet (0 of 3 FGs, 0 of 2 FTs, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, and an assist) also played, but didn't score. For the game, Amboy was 13 of 51 from the floor for 25.5 percent including a 1 of 12 showing from three for a paltry 8.3 percent. At the line, the Panthers were 4 of 6 for 66.7 percent. On the other hand, St. Joseph's-Green was 14 of 44 from the floor for 31.8 percent including a 2 of 8 effort from long distance for 25 percent. At the free throw stripe, the Little Falcons managed to win this hard fought battle with a 14 of 19 showing for 73.7 percent.
Turnovers also played a very significant role as St. Joseph's-Green forced Amboy to commit 24 turnovers over the last 25 minutes of the contest, which breaks down to nearly a turnover a minute. The Little Falcons, on the other hand, only had 17 in the same time frame with many of them coming in the final quarter of play. Both teams struggled to get their offenses going as St. Joe's managed to only score in double digits in two of the four periods while Perth Amboy only did it in the third quarter. After being outscored by one in the first frame, St. Joe's-Green won each of the final three periods for the win. Like most of the Freshmen Games this year, GMC Hoops arrived late, and after talking a bit with St. Joe's AD and former JFK head coach, Jerry Smith, entered the gym with a bit more than a minute to go in the opening period, and Amboy leading by three, 7-4. Moments after my arrival, the Little Panthers had a chance to go up by more, but Maisonet misfired on both his free throws, and the visitors remained up by three. Then, in the waning seconds of the first, Ace Sudah dished to Mesar on the right low block for a layup, and a 7-6 Little Panther lead after one. The second quarter began rather auspiciously as Perth Amboy turned the ball over twice in just the first 33 seconds, and the Little Falcons took advantage. One of the Amboy miscues was produced by a steal from Mayce that led to another Ace Sudah assist on a jumper from the right side by Hratko for an 8-7 lead at the 7:27 mark.
Both teams then exchanged turnovers as Slay Sudah was called for a backcourt at the 7:19 mark, and then the Little Panthers gave it right back on their next possession with a jump ball. The next score would occur at the 6:20 mark when Hratko stepped to the line for a couple of free throws, and a 10-7 lead. On the next Amboy possession though, Canela got those points back with two free throws of his own after he grabbed an offensive rebound, and was fouled on the putback for a 10-9 Little Falcon edge with 6:08 to go before the intermission. A little more than a minute passed before the next score as Waitikovich made a nifty dribble move for a jumper inside the foul line for a 12-9 lead at the 5:03 mark. Once more though, Canela trimmed the deficit back down to one with a pair of charity shots for a 12-11 St. Joe's-Green edge at the 4:36 mark. Waitikovich then retaliated again, but this time with his passing as he made another fine move on a drive, and dished to Mesar for a layup, and a 14-11 lead with 4:08 to go before the intermission. Following a Little Falcon timeout at the 3:22 mark, the home team went up by six on one of two free throws by Dolan, and then on the second missed foul shot, an offensive rebound, and putback by Slay Sudah for the 17-11 lead with 2:14 to play in the half. St. Joseph's-Green then made it an eight point game as Mesar, who made 4 of 6 shots in the first half for 8 points, grabbed an offensive board off his own miss, and put it back in for a 19-11 advantage at the 1:37 mark. Amboy, which ended up with 8 turnovers in the stanza, would fight back though with two field goals including a jumper and a layup by Verdecie for the 19-15 St. Joseph's lead at the break.
The halftime speeches and adjustments made by St. Joe's-Green must have been fiery yet detailed since the team didn't come out for warmups until about a minute and a half to go before the start of the third period. Perth Amboy came out after several minutes, and got themselves ready for the second half, and then sum. Surpisingly, it didn't make much of a difference since the Little Falcons played like the team that was better prepared. Forcing the Little Panthers to commit nine more turnovers in the stanza, St. Joseph's put together the decisive run of the game. Within the first 55 seconds of the second half, the Little Falcons reeled off four ponits on scores by Mayce and Mesar off assists by Ace Sudah for a 23-15 lead. Forty seconds later, Ace Sudah got his first points of the game by connecting on a three pointer from the right wing off a Waitikovich assist that made it a 7-0 run for a 26-15 lead at the 6:25 mark. Just a little less than a minute later, Mesar got an offensive rebound, and kicked the ball back out to Sudah at the top of the key for another trifecta, a 10-0 spurt, and a 29-15 advantage with five and a half minutes to go in the third. Over the next 2:32, Amboy attempted to climb back into the matchup with six of the next eight points including a layup at the 1:58 mark by Verdecie off an assist by Taveras, who played quite well in a losing cause for the Little Panthers. Following a timeout by St. Joe's-Green, both teams scored four points each to round out the third for a 35-25 Little Falcon edge.
In the fourth, St. Joseph's-Green began to use the clock as its ally by spreading the floor, and using good ball movement to take time off the clock. With a little over a minute gone by in the final frame, Mayce came up with a huge offensive rebound off a Waitikovich miss, and drew a foul on the putback attempt for two free throws, and a 37-25 lead. Following a Perth Amboy timeout at the 6:43 mark, Ace Sudah made a nice pass on the break to set up Waitikovich for a layup attempt that drew a foul, and resulted in one of two from the foul line for a 38-25 lead with 6:25 remaining. Nearly a minute and a half later, Mayce made a fine pass to Slay Sudah for a layup, and the Little Falcons biggest lead of the contest at 40-25. The Little Panthers refused to go away quietly though as they rallied with six straight points including two layups by Taveras that made the score, 40-31. Perth Amboy had an opportunity to pull even closer, by after a steal by Hernandez, Canela misfired on a three point attempt, and Waitikovich got the rebound and drew the foul, which resulted in two free throws, and a 42-31 lead with exactly a minute to go. From there both teams got scores to round out the 44-33 St. Joseph's-Green win. With the victory, the Little Falcons improved to 20-3 overall on the season.
Team |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
St. Joseph's-Green (20-3) |
6 | 13 | 16 | 9 | 44 |
Perth Amboy |
7 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 33 |
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