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Highland
Park Remains Winless After Pingry Rout, 69-45 |
By Greg Machos
December 29, 2007KENILWORTH, NJ—After losing Mike Burwell following their last playoff appearance in 2005-06, the Highland Park Owls have not been the same team obviously. Add to that the fact that the Owls lost six players to graduation following the 2006-07 season, and you have a team with a lot of young and inexperienced players. The only member of that 2005-06 team that not only made the state tournament, but won its first round game is forward, James Boyd, who is now a senior at the school. Ironically, Boyd was one of five different players to collect a double-double in the Owls opening round win over Academy Charter two years ago in the Central Jersey Group I State Tournament. Now, that game seems like a distant memory for Boyd as Highland Park entered their consolation game for third place at the 2007 Brearley Bear Tournament with five straight losses to begin the 2007-08 campaign. The Owls opened the season in absolutely horrendous fashion with a 75-16 loss at the hands of Top Ten team, Bishop Ahr in North Edison. Then, although the team played more respectably in terms of the final score, the Owls proceeded to lose to JFK at home (58-44), South River on the road (77-62), and Spotswood at home (70-54). In the opening round of the holiday tournament at Brearley, Highland Park lost to the host school by a 62-49 score.
This once proud basketball program, rich with tradition, and famous players such as current Philadelphia Eagles tight end, L.J. Smith, has struggled not only since second year head coach, Derrick Nobles arrived last season, but since the 2002-03 season when Josh Jones, a former Rutgers Prep standout, and eventual star on the gridiron and hardwood for New Brunswick in 2003-04, was ruled ineligible, and Highland Park had to forefeit a significant number of its games. After winning two straight sectional titles at the school in 2000-01 and 2001-02, former head coach, Rocco Funari, stepped down, and eventually moved on to coach several seasons at East Brunswick Tech before taking the girls head coaching position at Woodbridge Tech for the 2007-08 season. Essentially, Burwell's arrival at the school as a freshman was a temporary reprieve for the Owls misery. During the summer prior to Burwell's sophomore year, Highland Park, then under the direction of Tom Sclafani, made great strides at the 2005 Middlesex County College Summer League by defeating a Carteret team in the semifinals that had beaten Piscataway in the previous round. Led by Burwell's MVP performances, the Owls then went on to win the Championship over Blue Division rival, Spotswood. More good news came the Owls way when former player, Jaron Mayfield returned to Highland Park after spending a season with Karl Towns and the Piscataway Tech Raiders of the GMC Gold Division.
Two years ago during the holidays, the Highland Park Owls hit their stride with five wins in their first seven games including a victory over Brearley in the opening round of that year's Brearley Bear Tournament. Ironically, it was the team the Owls faced on this day with one key player in Jeff Tannenbaum that handed the 2005-06 squad one of its two losses during the early season stretch with a 68-57 defeat in the Championship of the Brearley Bear Tournament, 68-57. Following a loss to Metuchen that saw Marqus Blakely go wild including a high flying block that was called for goaltending, and a block and a steal that he turned into a layup while being fouled, Highland Park was not the same team as it lost 10 out of its last 17 to end the season despite the opening round playoff win. Burwell then transferred to McCarrick, where he has gone on to become a 1,000 point scorer, and reach the finals of the 2007 Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament before losing to Piscataway. Meanwhile, the Owls struggled in 2006-07 despite having a veteran laden team consisting of Antoine Ingram, Kirk Davidson, Rob Rubenstein, Wesley Hedden, Jake Rainwater, and Bryan Graciano. On the other half of the sideline, things couldn't be any better for Pingry, which ended up going 4-17 overall in the Hills Division of the Colonial Hills Conference. Not only did the Big Blue, which competed at the Bound Brook Summer League this past summer, have Jeff Tannenbaum returning along with another fine guard in Tyler Parsels, but they also had a familiar face coming back to coach in Jason Murdock, who came back to Pingry after coaching one season at New Brunswick.
Over the summer at the 2007 Bound Brook Summer League, Tannenbaum and Parsels were a solid backcourt combination with Tannenbaum leading the league in scoring average with 20.7 points per game while Parsels and Tannenbaum were among the top four in three point field goals during the regular season. So far during the season, Tannenbaum, a disciple of former South Plainfield and Dunellen shooting coach, Mike Lanza, has averaged 19.3 per game including 50 of 90 from the floor for 56 percent including a scorching 11 of 20 from beyond the arc for 55 percent. The senior guard has also compiled 2.9 rebounds per game, 2.9 assists per game, and 1.7 steals per game. In addition, Parsels has averaged 12.7 points per game, 2.1 rebounds per game, 2.0 steals per game, and 1.1 assists per game. Tannenbaum's backcourt mate has connected on 35 of 76 shots overall for 46 percent including 30 of 58 from inside the arc for 52 percent. The result of the off-season work, Murdock's return, and the solid guard play has been a 5-2 start including wins over Oratory Prep of Summit, and Gill St. Bernard's of Pepack Gladstone. This game would be more of the same for Highland Park as the Owls offense was one and done while Pingry got fine shooting from Tannenbaum and Parsels and pounded the boards in a 69-45 romp. For the game, the Big Blue accumulated its 69 points on 22 field goals, 6 three pointers, and 7 foul shots while Highland Park tallied its 45 points on 15 field goals, two threes, and nine free throws. Pingry outscored the Owls in each quarter including an 18-6 showing in the first that pretty much set the tone for the rest of the game.
Parsels led the charge with 18 points on seven field goals, a three pointer, and a foul shot while Tannenbaum chipped in with 14 points on two field goals, three treys, and a free throw. Freshman forward, Scott Sowinski added 8 points on four field goals, and 6'2" senior forward, Andrew Cala contributed with 7 points on three field goals and a foul shot. Rounding out the scoring for the Prep school in the Martinsville section of Bridgewater were: Cory Babcock (2 field goal for 4 points), Cary Corrigan (a field goal and a foul shot for 3 points), Todd Feldman (a three pointer for three points), Willie Lovallo (a trey for three points), Will Brundage (a field goal for two points), Jeremy Mykulak (a field goal for two points), Eric Oplinger (two free throws for 2 points), Giancarlo Riotto (a field goal for two points), and Godfrey Best (a free throw for one point) as 13 different players got into the scoring column for the Big Blue. Meanwhile, for the Owls, only six players got on the board including Jovan Harrison, who had a team high 11 points on four field goals and a trey while Nate Smith chipped in for the losers with four field goals for eight points. La'Quann Benbow added 7 points on a three pointer, field goal, and two foul shots while Jahlil Evans also scored 7 on two field goals and three foul shots. Boyd (two field goals and two free throws) and 5'10" junior guard, Justin Brown (two field goals and two free throws) came with next with six points apiece to round out the scoring for the Owls.
After watching the seventh place consolation game between South Plainfield and Holmdel in the 2007 John "Butch" Kowal Tournament, GMC Hoops took a trip up the Parkway North from the circle in Clark, and arrived at David Brearley Regional High School in Kenilworth with 2:25 remaining in the third quarter, and the game already getting out of hand with Pingry leading 45-26. Less than a half minute later, Tannenbaum got his final points of the game on a three pointer from the right wing that made it a twenty-two point game at 48-26 with 2:03 to play in the third period. Highland Park then got a score on a field goal at the 1:47 mark that made the score, 48-28 in favor of the Big Blue. The Somerset County Preparatory school then got a score underneath for a 50-28 lead with 1:20 to play, but Harrison helped make things a little easier to swallow for the Owls by grabbing an offensive rebound, and putting home the follow for a 50-30 Pingry lead at the 1:03 mark. Closing out the third quarter scoring, the Big Blue got a field goal to take a 52-30 advantage into the fourth and final period of play. In the fourth, Boyd did his part to make things respectable with an offensive rebond and putback as he was fouled for a conventional three point play at the 7:32 mark that made the score, 52-33. Pingry then retaliated with a trey of the unconventional sort from the left side for a 55-33 lead at the 6:29 mark. Boyd then continued to do whatever he could to make the best of the dire situation with an assist on an inbounds play for a score that made it 55-35 in favor of Pingry with 6:14 to play. At this point things had become a bit testy in the gym as the Owls were playing physical, and the officials appeared to just let the teams play.
Murdock, the cousin of former Bridgewater-Raritan, Providence College, and NBA standout, Eric Murdock, who was the head coach at Pingry two seasons ago, became somewhat disgusted at what was happening on the floor as his players went down several times from contact, but no call was time. Finally after some protest by the former New Brunswick coach, the Big Blue was given a technical foul. Spectators in the stands began to give the officials a tough time, which then caused them to ask to have fans be removed from the gym. Nobody was removed, but several people were warned by the Brearley staff. Brown then made one of two for the technical, and the score now stood at 55-36. The Owls had a chance to make it more respectable, but missed two free throws, and then Boyd missed on the offensive rebound and putback attempt as Pingry called for time with 5:47 remaining. After the timeout, Pingry scored four of the next six points for a 59-38 lead before Benbow drilled a three pointer for a 59-41 Big Blue advantage. Pingry then got another basket for a nineteen point lead before Benbow showed some athleticism on a save to Harrison for a layup that made it a 60-43 game with 3:09 left. From there, the reserves on Pingry cleaned up with a 9-2 showing the rest of the way for a 69-45 win. With the victory, Pingry moved up to 5-2 overall on the season, and will resume its regular season schedule on January 4th against the usually highly potent offense of Newark Academy while Highland Park dropped to 0-6, and will try to pick up the pieces, and get its first win of the season when the new year begins on January 2nd in Metuchen.
Team |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
Pingry (5-2) |
18 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 69 |
Highland Park (0-6) |
6 | 13 | 11 | 15 | 45 |
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