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Benjamin And Rosario Lead Tigers Past Stevens For Second Time, 39-27 |
By Greg Machos
December 29, 2009SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ--For the second time in a week, the J.P. Stevens Hawks took on the Tigers of South Plainfield. This time, it was in the consolation game of the inaugural Anthony J. Cotoia Holiday Tournament at SPHS. The two teams met on December 23rd at J.P. Stevens with the Tigers coming out the victors in a low scoring, 36-25 game. There was a bit more scoring this time around, but the result was the same. South Plainfield won.
Led by a 10 point effort on five field goals from senior forward, Owolo Benjamin, and 9 points on three third quarter treys by junior guard, Bryant Rosario, the South Plainfield Tigers improved to 2-0 against Stevens on the season with a 39-27 victory. Senior forward, Malcolm Austin, chipped in with 6 points and 10 boards while Carlos Ruiz, who made the All Tournament Team along with Troy McNair, also added 6 points for the winners.
Sophomore forward, Ricky Barnett led Stevens with 7 points while fellow soph, Marvin Crawford added 6 in a losing cause. Both teams had seven of its eight players that played scored, but the Tigers had one player score in double figures while another nearly did. SPHS connected on 15 field goals, and three treys while Stevens made only five field goals, two threes, and 11 foul shots. The Tigers, which outscored JPS in each of the first three quarters, jumped out to a 20-9 first half lead thanks to an 8-2 showing in the first quarter, and then a 12-7 showing in the second.
The third period began with the Tigers scoring 7 of the first 11 points of the frame over the opening 3:57 for a 27-13 lead. Rosario capped the run with the first of his three trifectas in the period. Following a timeout by the Hawks, Rosario added two more threes over the next 3:16 for a 6-4 run, and a 33-17 lead. Stevens got one of those treys back on a shot by junior Mike Reuben to make it 33-20 going into the fourth and final period of play. There wasn't a lot of scoring in the fourth as both teams combined for only 13 points in the final period with Stevens getting a 7-6 edge.
Neither team scored for the first 2:52 of the period before a full timeout was called. Stevens broke the deadlock with a steal for a layup by Crawford to close the gap to 33-22 with 3:53 to play. However, the Tigers distanced themselves with a 6-2 spurt including an offensive rebound and follow by McNair for a 39-24 lead. From there, the Tigers went on to win by a dozen, 39-27. In addition to Ruiz and McNair making the All Tourney Team from SPHS, Barnett and point guard, Mike Le made the squad from Stevens. With the victory, South Plainfield improved to .500 on the season overall and in conference play at 2-2. Meanwhile, J.P. Stevens remained winless both overall and in the GMC.
See details on the final day of action in this tournament as well as video highlights from this game in the GMC Hoops Blogosphere.
Team |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
South Plainfield (2-2) |
8 | 12 | 13 | 6 | 39 |
J.P. Stevens (0-5) |
2 | 7 | 11 | 7 | 27 |
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