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GMC Hoops Summaries--December 31, 2010
Holiday Tournaments--Buc Holiday Classic

Roselle Rolls Past Old Bridge, 59-24

By Greg Machos
December 31, 2010

RED BANK, NJ--Sometimes, when you have a relatively young and inexperienced team, it will have moments of brilliance, and moments that you'd like to forget. For the Knights of Old Bridge, those moments have already happened at least once this year. A little over a week ago, OBHS came up with its first victory of the season by knocking off Colonia, which had been ranked sixth in the GMC Hoops Pre-Season Top Ten (43-40). It was a great confidence boost for the Knights, which had only several players returning from last year.

Then came the consolation round game against Roselle at the 2010 Buc Holiday Classic at Red Bank High School. It was a game that Old Bridge would like to forget. The Knights and Rams were both coming off first round losses in the tourney. Old Bridge fell to Freehold Boro by a score of 52-46 while Roselle fell to Red Bank in the other quarterfinal (52-45 in OT). The winner of this game would play Shore Regional in the fifth place game on Sunday afternoon. The Blue Devils defeated Woodbridge in an earlier consolation by the score of 59-52. The loser of this contest would take on Woodbridge in the seventh place game on Sunday morning.

With its trapping and pressing defenses along with its up-tempo style, Roselle got out to an early lead, and continued to pull away to an easy 59-24 victory over the Knights. The Runnin' Rams, which had entered the tournament undefeated, jumped out to a 10-2 over the first 4:14, and then after an Old Bridge score, they ended the period with the final four points for a 14-4 lead. Roselle continued to pour it on with a 19-6 showing in the second period for a 33-10 halftime lead. The onslaught continued in the third with Roselle scoring nine of the first 11 points, and outscoring OBHS by a 17-8 margin for a 50-18 lead. The Rams, which outscored the Knights in each period, closed the game with a 9-6 showing in the fourth for the 35 point victory.

Old Bridge, which was playing without Isaiah Velez, just couldn't get into any rhythm offensively. The Knights committed 31 turnovers in the contest. Each player on the squad had at least one turnover in the game. And, when OBHS was able to handle the ball, and break Roselle's pressure, they weren't able to finish, or took difficult shots. For the game, the Knights went just 9 of 40 from the floor for 23 percent including an 0 of 12 showing from beyond the arc. Only two of the ten players that played in the contest for the Knights shot above 50 percent. Six of those players broke into the scoring column. Two bright spots for the Knights were two reserves, Alex Barnhard and Jordan Marrero.

Barnhard, a senior guard/forward, made 2 of 5 shots from the floor, and both his free throw attempts for 6 points along with 7 rebounds and 2 steals. Marrero, a sophomore forward, scored four points, but grabbed 10 rebounds, and handed out two assists. Sultan Aminu struggled in the game, but also contributed with 4 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, and a block. As a team, Old Bridge had 31 total rebounds including 14 on the offensive glass. Marrero had half of the offensive boards with seven. The Knights only had three assists on the game while collecting 9 steals and 2 blocks. OBHS also picked up just 12 team fouls in the contest while making 6 of 11 from the charity stripe. The game started out rough for the Knights, and continued to get worse.

In the opening period, Old Bridge had nine turnovers, and only shot 2 of 6 from the floor. Both field goals came from Aminu, who scored all his points in the opening period on two of three shooting. Trailing 14-4 entering the second period, the Knights fell behind further as the Rams started the frame with eight of the first 10 points including two threes. Roselle furthered its advantage to 25-8 by scoring three of five, and then finished the first half on another 8-2 run to take the 33-10 lead going into the intermission. At the break, the Knights were 5 of 19 from the floor including 0 of 6 from three point range. In addition, they only attempted two free throws in the first two stanzas. The visitors from the GMC also had 15 turnovers in the first half. Aminu had four points while Tyler Drews, Alex Sastoque, and David Krzewinski each had two.

In the second half, things remained about the same for the Knights. Old Bridge actually shot slightly worse over the final two periods by going 4 of 21 from the floor overall. It did, however, get to the line more, and were 6 of 9. The Knights also committed about the same number of turnovers in the second half with 16. Roselle picked up right where it left off in the first half by putting together a 9-2 run over the first 1:47 of the second half to take a commanding 42-12 lead. Following an Old Bridge timeout at the 6:13 mark, the Rams still managed to outscore the Knights by an 8-6 margin the rest of the period to take a 50-18 lead entering the fourth. From there, the reserves on both teams saw a great deal of playing time with Roselle winning the final period by three for the 35 point victory.

With the win, Roselle improved to 4-1 on the season while Old Bridge dropped to 1-4. Both teams wrapped up play in the tournament with consolation games on Sunday.

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