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Defense Helps Stevens Stifle South Plainfield, 56-37 |
By Greg Machos
December 26, 2011SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ--.After two years of being relegated to the lower depths of the GMC Red Division, the Hawks of J.P. Stevens have shown signs early on that they are not only looking to improve, but compete with the big boys in the toughest division in the conference this year. Stevens put in a solid summer at the Rahway Summer League with a final four appearance before losing to Roselle in the semifinals. The Hawks were the only GMC team in the Final Four at Rahway.
Fast forward to the beginning of this season, and already the natives in North Edison have something to talk about. True, JPS lost its opener at Piscataway, but since then, it has played solid basketball. In its second game of the season, the Hawks traveled down to South Brunswick, and gave the Vikings and they could handle before bowing out by one (61-60). Two nights later, SBHS jolted second ranked Piscataway on the road. On that same night, Stevens soundly defeated Perth Amboy, another team in the Cotoia Tournament, by the score of 54-19.
In the opening round of the third annual Anthony J. Cotoia Tournament at South Plainfield High School, the Hawks gave further proof that they intend to be a team to be reckoned with in the Red Division this year. Against a South Plainfield team searching for its first win, Stevens fell behind 12-9 after one quarter, but then turned up the heat defensively, and played solid team basketball to put together a 38-7 blitz of the Tigers over a span of 14:53 to take a commanding 47-19 lead with less than two minutes to go in the third period en route to a 56-37 victory. While the Hawks had three players score in double figures, it was their defense that stole the show.
From the 45 second mark of the first period to the 1:07 mark of the third period, J.P. Stevens held South Plainfield without a single field goal. Over that span of 15:38, the Tigers could only manage 7 of 8 shooting from the foul line including a 4 of 4 showing from senior Joe Skwiat, who was a bright spot with 10 points and 8 rebounds. Brandon Ahmed led the charge for the Hawks with a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds including 8 points in the second period when Stevens broke the game open with a 23-7 showing for a 32-19 halftime lead. Sophomore Sky Harris chipped in with 13 points and 5 rebounds including five in that same period while senior Marvin Crawford added 10 points.
The Hawks also had 8 points from Xavier Johnson including two threes in the second while John Maxham added five. While both teams had three treys apiece, Stevens had 23 total field goals while South Plainfield only had 12. The Tigers were 10 of 14 from the foul line while the Hawks went 7 of 11 from the charity stripe. Eight different players scored for SPHS while only seven scored for Stevens. The visitors from North Edison also had a 31-22 edge in overall rebounding. Both teams outscored each other in two of the four quarters. The Tigers, which lost their first two contests by an average of 12 points, got off to a good start as they got a putback at the 6:40 mark, and then a three by Ryan Marcoux for a 5-0 lead with 5:13 to go in the period.
J.P. Stevens didn't panic as it scored 9 of the next 13 including all five points from Maxham on a layup at the 4:44 mark, and a triple at the 1:50 mark to tie the game. Skwiat put the Tigers ahead by two with 45 seconds to play in the opening quarter, and sophomore Aidan McDermott drew a charge for the home team at the 28.4 second mark before stepping to the line after being fouled underneath with 2.4 seconds left in the quarter, and made one of two for the three point advantage. The Hawks then opened the period with eight unanswered points including two threes from Johnson at the 7:24 and 6:45 marks for a 17-12 lead. South Plainfield tried to stay within striking distance as Payne and Skwiat each sank a pair of free throws at the 6:31 and 6:10 marks, but the Hawks wouldn't let the Tigers get any closer than three points.
Ahmed began to get going at the 6:19 mark when he scored on a follow of a Harris miss for a 19-14 lead. The senior guard, struck again by attacking the glass for a putback with 6:10 to go in the first half for a 21-16 lead. The Hawks continued to pull away as Ahmed was fouled by Ray Perez on a drive to the basket, and made two free throws at the 5:18 mark for a 23-16 edge. Harris added a transition layup at the 4:43 mark for a nine point lead, but Skwiat returned to the line, and made two free throws to keep the Tigers within seven. South Plainfield would never get that close again as Stevens ended the half on a 7-1 spurt that included another score by both Ahmed at the 4:02 mark and Harris at the 3:20 mark, and a bucket by Frank Smith at the 2:37 mark.
Things continued to snowball for South Plainfield in the third quarter. The Hawks scored the first 16 points of the second half including six by Crawford, six by Harris, and a bucket by Ahmed for a 47-19 lead with 2:21 to go in the period. Junior Sergio Ulacia gave the Tigers some spark to end the third and into the fourth when he broke the near two quarter field goal drought with a drive for a layup with a little over a minute remaining. The SPHS offense seemed to loosen up after that as it got a jumper from sophomore Chris Mathis off a pass from classmate Malik Cisson at the 36.2 second mark. Then, Ulacia ended the frame with a three pointer from the top of the key for a 47-26 Hawks lead into the fourth.
However, the damage had been done. While the Tiger reserves showed energy and passion, it was too little, too late. The only thing it helped accomplish was making the score more respectable. South Plainfield outscored Stevens by an 18-9 margin over the final 9:07 of the game. Ulacia and Mathis had five points each including threes during the stretch while Skwiat, Cisson, McDermott, and Ray Perez also added scores. With the victory, Stevens improves to 2-2 on the season, and in conference play while SPHS falls to 0-3 in both. The Hawks advance to face Perth Amboy on Wednesday in the semifinals at 1:00 PM while the Tigers will face Middletown South in a consolation game. Read the play-by-play from the contest.
Team |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
J.P. Stevens (2-2) |
9 | 23 | 15 | 9 | 56 |
South Plainfield (0-3) |
12 | 7 | 7 | 11 | 37 |
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