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GMC Hoops Summaries--January 24, 2008
Week Six--GMC Red Division Clash

White's Clutch Shooting Helps Piscataway Pull Away, 46-42

By Greg Machos
January 24, 2008

MONMOUTH JUNCTION, NJ--Life hasn't been easy for the Piscataway Chiefs since Tristian Benjamin hasn't been in the lineup for the past week. Although super soph, Wayne Newsome has done his best to fill the void with team highs in a recent win at Edison, and an overtime loss to Cardinal McCarrick that catapulted the Eagels to the top spot, the team has had to scrap for wins. On Tuesday night, the Chiefs had to hold off a much improved squad from Old Bridge in a 49-44 win, and then on Thursday night in South Brunswick, P-Way was in danager of losing its second game in less than a week after rolling through much of the GMC Red competition, and putting what seemed to be a stranglehold on the Greater Middlesex Conference for most of 2007-08. Enter senior guard, James White. The four year varsity player as well as football standout has been more known for his defense at times than his offense. However, he can take over games like he did against Colonia in the GMCT Quarterfinals last year, and also in this game versus the Vikings at SBHS.

Leading by only three after three quarters, 31-28, Piscataway broke away from its precarious position with a 9-3 run over the first 2:50 of the fourth thanks to White, who made three straight threes for a 40-31 lead with 5:10 remaining. Although South Brunswick hung tough, and closed to within three at the 17.4 second mark on two foul shots by Jordan Teicher, who had a team high 13 points along with 6 rebounds, 2 steals, an assist, and a blocked shot, it wasn't enough as P-Way came away with a hard fought, 46-42 win on the road. With the victory, Piscataway won its second straight after losing to Cardinal McCarrick last Saturday, and its 13th in 15 games so far this season. Meanwhile, South Brunswick, still fighting to get into the state tournament for the eighth straight year, is now two games over .500 with a huge contest on the road at St. Joseph's on Saturday night. For the game, White ended up tied for game high with 17 points on 6 of 14 shooting including 4 of 7 from beyond the arc, and one of two free throws at the line down the stretch to help seal the win. The GMC Hoops Player of the Week for the holiday tournament portion of the 2007-08 season also collected 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and a steal.

Tying White for game high was senior forward, J.D. Griggs, who connected on 5 of 12 shots from the floor, and 7 of 9 from the foul line for his 17 while picking up a double-double with 10 rebounds along with 4 blocks, 4 steals, and an assist. Aside from Teicher, Arman Wilson helped out for the Vikings with 11 points including seven in the fourth quarter to go along with 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, and a block. Mohammed Sanu struggled from the floor overall, but still came up with 9 points while pulling down 12 rebounds in the loss. To see the rest of the individual statistics for this particular battle, visit the contest's stat page in the GMC Hoops Game Stats section. In the game, Piscataway went only 17 of 53 from the floor for 32.1 percent including 4 of 9 from long distance for 44.4 percent (thanks to White). Meanwhile, South Brunswick did shoot a bit better overall with a 15 of 46 effort for 32.6 percent, but made 4 of 14 from three point range for 28.6 percent. At the foul line, the Chiefs, led by Griggs went 8 of 14 at the line while South Brunswick matched that thanks to Teicher, and senior point guard, Troy Confessore, who combined to go 5 of 5 from the charity stripe on the game. In other statistical departments, Piscataway held edges in turnovers (13-16), rebounding (36-32), offensive rebounding (14-10), steals (10-5), and blocks (6-5) while the Vikings had more assists (11-8) and charges (1-0).

Both teams scored in double digits in three of the four periods, but after the score was tied in the first quarter at 11-11, P-Way outscored its Red Division foe in each of the final three periods for the win. Neither team enjoyed a lead bigger than nine points while there were a total of nine lead changes and six ties in the contest. In the first quarter, Piscataway struggled from the floor by only making 5 of 15 shots including one of two from downtown while South Brunswick made not only 4 of 10 shots, but also 3 of 4 from the line. In a game where turnovers were held to a minimum as both teams played sound basketball, each team only committed one miscue in the opening frame. White started things off right away with a three pointer from the top of the key for a 3-0 Chief lead at the 6:47 mark. A half minute later, the Vikes got on the board when Confessore fed Lease with a pass inside for a layup attempt that drew a foul from Omar Smith, and resulted in one of two at the line for a 3-1 P-Way lead at the 6:17 mark. Fifty seconds later, Smith dished to Griggs for a layup that made the score 5-1 before Lease scored down low for a 5-3 Piscataway edge near the midway point in the first. White continued to have the hot hand from the perimeter with a jumper from the right wing at the 3:11 mark for a 7-3 advantage before the Vikings rallied with six straight points over a 1:54 span to take its first lead in the contest at 9-7. Highlighting the run was a Teicher foul line jumper from Wilson, two free throws by Confessore at the 2:23 mark, and then the SBHS soccer standout got a loose ball to score a layup for the two point lead at the 1:17 mark.

The lead would switch hands again though as the Chiefs closed out the opening period with a 4-2 mini-run that deadlocked the score at eleven heading into the second. In the next period, Piscataway continued to be in the doldrums offensively as it made only 4 of 18 shots in the quarter, but limited the hometown Vikings to just 2 of 7 shots while forcing eight turnovers to forge ahead at the half, 20-18 on a 9-7 showing. Smith put P-Way ahead first in the second with a tip in during the opening minute for the 13-11 score when Confessore drew a charge on Bryan Waluk at the 6:47 mark. Following the turnover, South Brunswick took advantage as Sanu scored a layup as he was fouled, but missed the bonus free throw as the score remained squared at 13-13 with 6:33 to go in the half. Nearly a minute later, Griggs came up with a nice defensive play, and cashed in on it as he stole the ball in the Piscataway backcourt, and then drove the rest of the floor for the layup as he was fouled for a three point play, and a 16-13 lead at the 5:39 mark. A little more than a minute after that, Griggs came up huge on the defensive side of the ball again as he blocked a Sanu shot, which was rebounded by Smith, who sent an outlet pass upcourt to Thomas Bennett for a layup that made it a five point game at 18-13 at the 4:32 mark. Teicher drew his team to within two on a three pointer off an assist by Sanu for an 18-16 lead with 3:57 remaining in the half. Almost a minute after that, Piscataway forward, Aaron Hush, was called for a push off foul, and SBHS got possession on the turnover at the 3:05 mark. Twenty-eight seconds later, the Vikings cashed in as Wilson was fouled on a three point attempt, and made two of three at the line for an 18-18 tie.

However, P-Way would wrestle the lead back before the intermission as Blake scored on a layup that made the score 20-18. Meanwhile, Sanu picked up his second personal of the game with 2.9 left in the period when he fouled Smith. With Piscataway up by two at the break, both teams had trouble finding the basket with only 38 combined points in the opening half on 15 of 50 field goal attempts for 30 percent. Each team was one of four from long range, but South Brunswick had an advantage at the line going 5 of 9 to stay close while P-Way made its only foul shot attempt. Turnovers were fairly close with the Chiefs holding a 9-6 edge despite the fact that both teams got a bit sloppy in the second with a combined 13 turnovers. One of the big edges in the first half was in the rebounding department with Piscataway holding a 21-14 advantage including an 8-1 edge on the offensive boards. Sanu had over half of the Vikings total rebounds over the first two periods with 8 including the team's only offensive board. While assists, blocks, and and charges were relatively even, P-Way held a 6-2 edge in steals with several of them being converted into scores. Moving on to the first half scoring, Piscataway was led by Griggs, who made three field goals, and the team's only foul shot attempt for 7 points, 7 rebounds, 4 steals, and an assist while White chipped in with 5 points on his two jumpers including the first of his four treys in addition to his two assists. Smith also contributed with all four of his points in the first half along with six rebounds, an assist, steal, and block.

On the other side of the ledger, Teicher and Lease led the way for the Vikings with 5 points each while Confessore chipped in with four. Teicher made two of four shots including one of two from three while also collecting 2 rebounds, an assist, and a steal. Lease made both his field goal attempts, and one of two at the line while picking up a rebound and a blocked shot. Confessore clicked on one of two from the floor, and a perfect 2 of 2 from the line for his points while adding two rebounds, an assist, and a charge. The game would continue to be played tight in the second half as the Chiefs increased their lead only by a little with an 11-10 showing for a 31-28 score. The first points of the second half, which was a bit more high scoring than the first, came a little more than a minute into the third when Griggs drove into the paint, and put up a one handed floater for the 22-18 lead. Points continued to be hard to come by over the next 1:38 until Confessore found Sanu on the left wing for a three pointer that cut the deficit to one at 22-21 with 5:13 to go in the third. On the next Piscataway possession, Confessore came up with a play on the defensive end as he stole the ball, and turned it into points at the other end with an assist on a layup by Sanu for a 23-22 lead at the 4:53 mark. Thirty-five seconds later, SBHS had a chance to increase its lead, but Lease failed to make either one of his two foul shots, and the score remained, 23-22 at the 4:18 mark. Taking advantage, the Chiefs took the lead back with four straight points including two offensive rebounds for a putback attempt by Griggs that drew a foul, and resulted in a pair of free throws at the 3;44 mark, and then another two charity shots by the senior at the 2:55 mark for a 26-23 score.

However, the P-Way lead would be short lived though as on the next Viking possession Wilson, who was stopped on a drive from the left wing, made an off-balanced kickout to Teicher for a three pointer that tied the score at 26-26 with 2:33 left in the third. Quickly responding though, Piscataway took the lead back some eleven seconds later as the Chiefs pushed the ball upcourt, and White dished to Griggs for the layup and the foul for the conventional three point play, and a 29-26 lead at the 2:22 mark. Neither team would score for the next 1:20 or so before Wilson got his first field goal of the game by swopping in through the key for an acrobatic layup that closed the gap to one again at 29-28 with a bit more than a minute to play. Piscataway would take a three point lead though entering the fourth by getting a score to close out the third at 31-28. The start of the fourth saw the Chiefs put together the most decisive stretch of the contest. Over the first 2:50 of the final frame, Piscataway scored 9 of the first 12 points all coming from White for its largest lead of the game at 40-31 with 5:10 left. Things got off to a good start for the Chiefs as Newsome came up with a key offensive rebound off a missed putback by Griggs at the 7:35 mark. Moments later on a subsequent inbounds, Smith found White in the right corner for a trifecta that made the score, 34-28 with 7:26 left. South Brunswick would get those three points back via the traditional route as Teicher grabbed an offensive rebound off his own miss, and put it back in as he was fouled for a three point play that closed the gap to three again at 34-31 with 6:31 to play. White would come up clutch again though as he took another Smith pass on the left wing for a three that made the score, 37-31 at the 6:07 mark, and then capped the personal 9-3 run with a steal for a trey from the left wing again that made it 40-31 as SBHS head coach, Joe Hoehman called for time with 5:10 left.

South Brunswick refused to quit though much to their credit. Following the Viking timeout, the team scored nine of the next twelve points including a three pointer by Wilson from the left corner off an assist by Confessore at the 3:50 mark, layups by Sanu and Wilson over the next 1:17 to pull within five at 43-38 at the 2:33 mark, and then a putback by Wilson off a Lease miss with 2:04 remaining that made it a three point game again at 43-40. The comeback try was further fueled by the fact that Griggs, who was pefect at the line for most of the game, missed the front end of a one and one with 2:01 to play. However, the senior forward's teammates picked him up with a key score at the 55.3 mark for a 45-40 lead. Smith then missed a one and one with 35.2 left, and then Teicher made two free throws at the 17.4 second mark to draw within a single possession again at 45-42. However, the Vikings could not get any closer as the Chiefs came away with the 46-42 victory. With the win, Piscataway, the second ranked team in the GMC Hoops Top Ten, improved to 13-2 on the season, and remained undefeated in the GMC Red at 10-0 while South Brunswick dropped to 8-6 overall, and 5-4 in divisional play.

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