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Burton And Gibson Help Tigers Pull Away From Zebras, 64-48 |
By Greg Machos
January 11, 2008NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ—While the season is still somewhat young, it has taken somewhat of a toll on both the South Plainfield Tigers and the New Brunswick Zebras. For the Tigers, the toll has taken the form of numerous close losses. Coming into Friday night's game, which was broadcast on WCTC, South Plainfield had lost seven of its first nine games with eight of those contests decided by ten points or less. The Tigers had been outscored by a margin of just two points per game with the bulk of that slim deficit coming in the form of a 65-34 loss at home on Tuesday night to Carteret. On the other hand, the story has been different for New Brunswick. After winning its season opener at home over Woodbridge, the Zebras proceeded to lose six straight including a 61-37 defeat on Tuesday to North Brunswick in which senior standout, Brandon Smith left the game with an injury. However, there is hope for both teams. For the Zebras, hope lies in the future. In the first two games of the Freshmen, JV, and Varsity tripleheader, New Brunswick won both as its Little Zebras rolled past SPHS by a score of 59-23 while the Junior Zebras rallied from a 32-25 third quarter deficit with a 29-11 surge over the final 11:06 for a 54-43 win.
Factoring in both wins were the future face of Zebra basketball in freshmen Jaquan Cook, Devin Gardner, and Nyeem Coleman. Another youngster, sophomore guard, Nigel Scott, also played some minutes in the JV game, and came off the bench in the varsity game. However, there are still some veteran players trying to set a positive example for the youngsters. Juan James, a senior guard, has been playing hard with a team high 13 points in a loss to Monroe back before the holidays. Shamill Davis, Josh Ford, and Eric Hamm represent a junior class that reached the Quarterfinals of the 2006 Perth Amboy/GMC Tournament before losing to eventual champion, J.P. Stevens (64-46). The Tigers have a solid junior class as well. As eighth graders, the juniors at SPHS led by Mike Burton won the Middle School tournament over Carl Sandberg Middle School from Old Bridge. Burton as well as others such as Tramane Miller were up at the JV level as freshman while others such as Chris Fulton and Ted Skwiat were on a freshman team that was competitive against the likes of Final Four participant, Colonia. Despite the difficult situation at New Brunswick, first year head coach, Antoine Allen, who was a standout player at Linden High School back in the late 1980s, a teammate of former Rutgers standout, Waliyy Dixon, remains positive. He still sees progress in the sense that the kids are beginning to understand what is expected of them, and being accountable to the program.
Allen, who had previously coached Middle School and freshmen ball in Linden before coming to New Brunswick as an assistant last season, has a plan to put Zebra hoops back on the map again. "We have a couple freshmen that we're bringing up to the JV now, and we're looking to have them with the varsity next year," said Allen. The trio of Cook, Gardner, and Coleman are key pieces to the puzzle, but the entire freshmen team has brought a ray of hope into what has been a dismal season. With the victory over South Plainfield on Friday afternoon, the Little Zebras improved to 7-1 including three victories, and a championship in the 2007 Cardinal McCarrick Freshmen Tournament over the holidays in South Amboy. Allen went on to state that he would "like to get them (the Freshmen team) into a JV league this coming summer." New Brunswick has been a hotbed of talent over the long history over Middlesex County High School Basketball with legendary greats such as Gary Brokaw. More recently, the Zebras had won sectional titles in 2001, 2002, and 2004. In addition, NBHS made four straight Elite Eight appearances during that stretch including back to back Final Four berths in 2002 and 2003. However, following the 2003-04 season, long time head coach, Odie Page stepped down to get away from basketball for a few years. Page would resurface again at nearby Franklin, where he is still coach today. Since Page's departure, the school has had three different coaches including Allen.
Meanwhile, back at South Plainfield, the Tigers had built a winning tradition prior to third year head coach, Bill Schulte's arrival back in the 2005-06 season. Under long time head coach, Jeff Lubreski, the Tigers had made three straight GMCT Final Fours, and won two conference titles. Before that, the school, more known for its wrestling prowess, had never won a county/conference championship in boys basketball. In addition, the Tigers won at least a share of three straight White Division crowns surpassing the back to back titles set by the SPHS teams of 1989-90 and 1990-91. In Schulte's first year, the school went through a season of transition going just 8-16. However, in 2006-07, South Plainfield went 18-8, made its fourth final four appearance in five years, and a earned berth in the North Jersey Section 2 Group III semifinals before bowing out to Piscataway and Colonia respectively. However, this season has been somewhat of a struggle despite the team's competitive spirit. When you lose not only two top seniors in Shamai Santiago, who is now playing Division II Basketball at Gannon, and Opie Muse, but also a talented player in Dontae Johnson (transferred to Pennington Prep), a player on the GMC Hoops All Freshmen Team, it's tough to overcome. But, the Tigers still have veterans such as Burton and senior Bennie Gibson returning from last year's team while Troy Russell returned after taking a season off. GMC Hoops captured the Tigers earlier this season in a 50-42 loss to Holmdel in the 2007 John "Butch" Kowal Tournament at Rahway High School. Entering Friday's contest, SPHS had lost six of its games by eight points or less including four by five or less.
This game wouldn't be as close although for a time it appeared that it might. In the first half, the Tigers forced 21 turnovers by New Brunswick as it jumped out to a 30-16 lead at the half. Then, after scoring the first points of the second half, the Tigers went into a shell as the Zebras rallied with a 14-0 tear to pull within two at 32-30 with 4:32 left in the period. However, with the likes of Burton and Gibson going a combined 18 of 23 at the charity stripe for the game, the Tigers pulled away with a 14-9 showing over the final four and a half minutes of the third, and then an 18-9 effort in the fourth for a 32-18 surge in the final 12:23 of the game, and a 64-48 victory. For the game, Burton registered a game high 25 points as he connected on 7 of 14 from the floor including 1 of 2 from beyond the arc for 50 percent, and netted 10 of 13 foul shots for 76.9 percent while Gibson added 16 points on 4 of 6 shooting and an 8 of 10 effort at the free throw line. Burton also collected 5 rebounds, 2 steals, and an assist while Gibson picked up 4 assists, 4 steals, and 3 rebounds in the win. On the other side of the scoring ledger, Davis led the charge for the Zebras with a team high 16 points on 7 of 14 shooting as well including a three pointer while collecting 4 rebounds, 4 steals, and 3 assists. Ford chipped in with 10 points on 3 of 6 shooting from the floor, and 4 of 5 from the line in addition to five rebounds, and a blocked shot. Simuel Williams helped out with 11 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 assists. For the rest of the individual statistics, take a look at the stats page for this contest in the GMC Hoops Game Stats section.
Looking at the team statistics in this one, South Plainfield shot 21 of 46 overall for 45.7 percent including 1 of 5 from three point range for 20 percent. Meanwhile, New Brunswick was limited to just 18 of 51 shooting for 35.3 percent including 1 of 6 from downtown for 16.7 percent. At the line was where the game was decided as the Tigers made 21 of 28 shots for 75 percent while the Zebras connected on only 11 of 17 for 64.7 percent. In other statistical areas, the Tigers held the edge in rebounding (30-28), turnovers (23-32), and steals (16-15) while the Zebras had advantages in blocks (3-1) and charges (1-0). Both teams were even in terms of offensive rebounds (15-15) and assists (10-10). The Tigers scored in double digits in each quarter while the Zebras only managed to do that for one. However, in that one period, the third, New Brunswick scored nearly half of its total points with 23 in the frame. It was also the only period that the home team won in the game. In the first period, South Plainfield jumped out to a 14-9 lead by making 5 of 14 field goal attempts including a three pointer. The Tigers also connected on 3 of 4 from the foul line, and committed just four turnovers. Meanwhile, New Brunswick made only 3 of 12 shots while committing seven turnovers although it did make 3 of 4 at the line. SPHS got the first points of the game before New Brunswick tied it on a shot by Jesse Lovette that got a kind bounce at the 6:29 mark. The game continued to go back and forth for a bit as SP outscored NBHS by a 5-3 margin for a 7-5 lead before Lovette was fouled by Tiger 6'4" junior center, Chris Lesniak, which resulted in a pair of free throws and a tie game at 7-7 with 4:31 left in the period.
The Tigers subsequently turned the ball over as Christian Cole traveled at the 3:58 mark, but on the next Zebra possession, Lovette fired a shot that was off the mark, and rebounded by Burton, who proceeded to head back upcourt for a layup attempt that drew a foul, and resulted in a pair of free throws for a 9-7 lead at the 3:40 mark. Lesniak then followed suit with a short jumper along the right baseline for an 11-7 lead before Burton struck again with a steal following a Juan James steal, and drove in toward the hoop again to pick up a foul, and make one of two from the line for a 12-7 advantage at the 2:05 mark. South Plainfield would get another score before Williams stepped up to the line, and made a pair for New Brunswick for a 14-9 Tiger lead heading into the second. In the second, SPHS seemed to put this game out of reach as they forced 14 turnovers in the frame, and outscore NBHS by a 16-7 margin for a fourteen point halftime lead. The Tigers shot 5 of 13 in the period, and made 6 of 8 free throws while the Zebras made only 3 of 10 shots including a three pointer, but it didn't attempt any foul shots. After both teams exchanged scores in the opening minute, the Tigers increased their lead to six as Miller gave a nice dish down low to Muglia, who was fouled, and made one of two from the line for a 17-11 lead at the 6:19 mark. Davis then scored a layup to pull New Brunswick to within four at 17-13 before Gibson stepped up to the line for two free throws, and a 19-13 lead at the 5:25 mark.
Gibson then made it an eight point lead at the 5:10 mark when on the next Zebra possession, he swiped a steal, and scored on a layup for a 21-13 lead. Gibson then scored again on a tip in off his own miss for a 23-13 lead as New Brunswick called for time at the 4:23 mark. Following the timeout, the Zebras proceeded to commit their 16th turnover of the half, and then the Tigers cashed in as Lesniak tipped in his own miss that was a follow of a miss by Russell for a 25-13 lead with 3:35 still to play in the half. Davis then got the Zebras only trey of the game on a shot from the right side to end the 8-0 SP run, and make the score, 25-16. Following a full timeout by South Plainfield at the 2:05 mark, the Tigers ended the half with the final five points including a pair of free throws by Skwiat at the 36 second mark, and a three point play by Burton after being fouled on a layup with 20 seconds left to go up 30-16 as both teams went to their respective locker rooms at the intermission. The Tigers finished up the first half strong with a 13-3 tear over the final 5:25. Looking at the first half statistics, South Plainfield shot 10 of 27 from the floor for 37 percent while New Brunswick was just 6 of 22 for 27.3 percent. SPHS was 9 of 12 at the line for 75 percent while NBHS was 3 of 4. Both teams combined for 33 turnovers, but the Tigers, which had more steals (12-8) had the edge there as well (12-21). Rebounding was fairly even as New Brunswick held a slight 17-15 edge while both teams were even in offensive rebounding (9-9).
Moving on to the first half scoring, Burton led all scorers with 11 points on 3 of 7 field goals including a three pointer while making 4 of 5 at the foul line. Lesniak chipped in with 3 of 5 shooting for 6 points along with 5 rebounds. Meanwhile, for New Brunswick, Davis stood out with 7 points on 3 of 7 field goals including 1 of 3 from beyond the arc, and he also collected 4 rebounds, an assist, and a steal. In the third, the Zebras came out fired up, but not until after commiting its 22nd turnover of the game just eight seconds into the new half. James finally got on the board with his first field goal of the game at the 7:07 mark after SPHS had increased its lead to 32-16. Following a Tiger thirty second timeout at the 6:19 mark, New Brunswick got a score, and then Ford got himself going in the ball game by making two free throws for a 6-0 run that trimmed the SP lead to 32-22 at the 6:14 mark. Forty seconds later, Ford was at it again with an offensive rebound and putback as he was fouled for a three point play, a 9-0 NBHS spurt, and a 32-25 South Plainfield lead at the 5:34 mark. The Zebras didn't stop there either as they got a subsequent steal for a layup by Davis as he was fouled for another three point play as the once seemingly mammoth sized lead for the Tigers had dwindled to just four at 32-28 with 5:21 left in the third. Almost a minute later, New Brunswick would make its closest approach in the game as Williams drove to the basket and dished to Ford for a layup that pulled the home team to within a basket at 32-30 with 4:32 remaining in the frame.
Unfortunately for Zebra fans, who were hoping that their team could salvage something out of what has been a trying year to say the least, that would be as close as the Zebras would get. The reason for that was a 14-9 run for the remainder of the frame by the visitors. After a Zebra timeout at the 4:13 mark, Gibson drove into the lane for a layup attempt, and was fouled by Eric Hamm, and that resulted in two free throws that ended the 14-0 tear, and gave SPHS a 34-30 lead with 3:53 to go in the third. Burton then followed up some thirty seconds later with a drive along the left basline for a layup, and a 36-30 lead with 3:23 to go in the third. Burton was at it again forty-five seconds afterward with a layin as he was fouled for another three point play, and a 39-32 lead as the Tigers had suddenly put together a 9-2 spurt. After the two teams exchanged scores, South Plainfield took an eight point lead as Gibson got a steal, and was fouled on the layup attempt for a one of two showing at the line that made the score, 42-34 at the 2:03 mark. New Brunswick would close the period with a 5-4 run to make it a 46-39 Tiger lead entering the fourth, but was perhaps spent from trying to come all the way back from its halftime deficit to close to within two as it couldn't overcome South Plainfield. At the beginning of the fourth, the Tigers scored the first four points including a Aaron Wright layup off a feed from Cole for a 50-39 lead. SPHS made it an 8-1 run with four of the next five points before the Zebras tried to counter with three unanswered for a 54-43 Tiger lead at the 4:11 mark. However, after a timeout by SP, the visitors closed out the game with a 10-5 run for the 64-48 win. With the victory, South Plainfield improved to 3-7 overall on the season, and 2-4 in the GMC White while New Brunswick dropped to 1-7 overall in 1-5 in divisional play.
Team |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
South Plainfield (3-7) |
14 | 16 | 16 | 18 | 64 |
New Brunswick (1-7) |
9 | 7 | 23 | 9 | 48 |
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