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Tigers
Can't Quite Get Over The Hump In Loss to Hornets, 50-42 |
By Greg Machos
December 29, 2007RAHWAY, NJ—On Saturday afternoon, GMC Hoops began its next to final day of holiday tournament coverage with a Seventh Place consolation game between South Plainfield and Holmdel from the Class A Central Division of the Shore Conference in the 2007 John "Butch" Kowal Tournament at Rahway High School. For the Tigers, it has been a difficult start although the team hasn't just lied down. As a matter of fact, it has done the exact opposite. Despite being outsized by many if not all of their opponents so far in 2007-08, SPHS has been in every game. Each of South Plainfield's first five games have been decided by seven points or less with a loss in overtime on Friday afternoon to Westfield in another consolation game. Unfortunately, the Tigers, which have a number of players that competed on the successful football team that defeated Irvington and Scotch Plains (also see video highlights) in the state tournament before losing to Newark Westside in the Championship of the North Jersey Section 2 Group III State Tournament, have been on the losing end of many of these close games. Four of the five games South Plainfield has lost to start its season including a two point opening night loss to Monroe (55-53), a two point loss to Sayreville on December 20th (48-46), a three point loss to Summit in the opening round of the tourney (39-36), and the loss in OT to Westfield.
The Tigers come in with a very small team. The tallest player in their starting lineup, Troy Russel, the younger brother of Ulysses Russel, a former standout, and 2002 graduate of SPHS, is only 6'3" while reserve junior center, Chris Lesniak is listed at 6'4". However, with the likes of point guard Mike Burton, forward Bennie Gibson, and Aaron Wright, SPHS has a ton of athleticism and talent. Besides Colonia and North Brunswick, South Plainfield has one of the talented junior classes in the GMC White Division with a group that won the GMC Middle School Tournament over the Carl Sandberg Middle School of Old Bridge back when they were 8th graders. Burton and Gibson are the only two starters returning from last year's team that finished up 18-8 with two semifinal appearances in both the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament and the North Jersey Section 2 Group III State Tournament. The Final Four berth in the GMCT was the fourth by SPHS in the past five seasons. Tramane Miller, a reserve on last year's team, is also back on the roster for 2007-08 while Russel returns for his senior year after sitting out last season, and being two years removed from varsity play as a sophomore in head coach Bill Schulte's first season. There are plenty of talented newcomers though. Wright is at the top of the list after being a standout player at the JV level for assistant coach, Bob Conway, last season including a solid performance against South Amboy in the opening round of the East Brunswick/GMC JV Tournament at SPHS back in February.
Meanwhile, for Holmdel, things haven't been nearly the same for the Hornets in recent years. The Shore Conference school that is situated in Northern Monmouth County used to be a staple in New Jersey High School Boys Basketball with a number of sectional and state titles during the reign of former coach, Tom Stead, who eventually moved on to Ridge to coach for a season there, and is now the current skipper at Matawan Regional. Last season, the Hornets went 12-13 overall in 2006-07 including a 4-10 mark in the Class A Central Division of the Shore, and didn't qualify for the state tournament. However, the team finished strong after an 0-5 start out of the chute, and a 3-9 record as of January 20th with nine wins in their last thirteen games. Over the summer, Holmdel competed in the 2007 Rebounds Team Camp, and went 4-5 overall, but lost five of their last six at the camp after going 3-0 on the first day. These two teams have had a very short history against one another over the years. To my best recollection, it is only the third time that these schools have played one another during the course of a basketball season. The first time was my senior year at SPHS in 1987-88 when the eleventh seeded Tigers lost to the third seeded Hornets in the Quarterfinal round of the Central Jersey Group II Tournament, 71-54, in Holmdel. The Hornets then went on to lose in the semifinals to eventual champion, Carteret, which had a player named Dave Turco, who you all know today as head coach of St. Joe's. The next time the two teams met was also in the state tournament. Back in the 1999-2000 season, the seventh seeded Tigers led by Dominique Pender hosted tenth seeded Holmdel at SPHS, and South Plainfield came away victorious, but lost in the Quarterfinals at Montgomery. Ironically, the Ramblers, which lost its last ever GMC Blue Division game to South Plainfield on opening day that same year, also won the section that season as well led again by Turco, who was then the coach at CHS.
GMC Hoops only managed to catch the final 13:22 of this contest, but during that span, neither team had a lead bigger than nine points, and after South Plainfield went on an 11-2 tear over a 3:21 span to tie the game at 29-29 with 1:43 left in the third, the lead would not be higher than six points until the very end of the contest. Upon arrival, the web site caught South Plainfield in a very precarious position as the Tigers trailed 25-18 with 5:22 left in the third quarter. A short time later, the Hornets made it a nine point lead on a layup with 5:04 to play in the period to make the score, 27-18. Aaron Wright tried to get the Tigers going by skying for an offensive rebound off a missed shot by Russel, and putting in the follow for a 27-20 Holmdel lead at the 4:42 mark. The Hornets then came right back with a jumper at the 4:29 mark for a 29-20 advantage, and then Burton traveled at the 4:03 mark. However, Holmdel turned the ball right back over to the Tigers, and then Gibson scored on a drive along the right side of the key for a layup that cut the deficit to seven at 29-22 with 3:39 to go in the frame. Exactly a minute later, Christian Cole then struck for a three pointer from the left wing that closed the gap to four at 29-25 with 2:39 remaining in the third. On the next Holmdel possession, Wright came up with a blocked shot on a Holmdel player that went off the Hornet out of bounds to South Plainfield at the 2:24 mark. The Tigers then converted the turnover with a score at the 2:01 mark for a 29-27 Holmdel lead, and then they capped the run as Wright came up with another huge block again on the same Hornet player he blocked earlier, and the ball was rebounded by Russel, who then drove up the left side of the court for a layup that tied the game at 29-29 with 1:45 to go in the third. Two seconds later, Holmdel called for time to regroup.
Following the timeout, the Hornets retook the lead with one of two from the foul line for a 30-29 lead at the 1:27 mark. However, South Plainfield made it a 14-3 tear, and took its only layup in the time GMC Hoops was there when Cole took a pass from right on a kick out to the left wing for a three pointer that put the Tigers on top, 32-30 with 1:08 remaining in the third. Unfortunately, the lead would be brief, and the last the GMC White Division team would have as Holmdel scored four straight points to end the period for a 34-32 edge heading into the fourth. The final period began with some fireworks as things got contentious right away between the spectators on both sides and the officials. One of the officials jokingly said to another that had come in for the next scheduled game, "Could you come in to take my place?" Moments later, the joking stopped as the officials had a Holmdel fan ejected at the 7:12 mark, and a technical foul was assessed on the Hornet bench, which resulted in one of two at the line by Burton for a 34-33 Holmdel lead. The Hornets would later call a timeout at the 6:41 mark still clinging to a one point lead. Nearly a minute later, Wright was called for an over the back foul that resulted in a one of two showing for the Hornets at the 5:49 that made the score, 35-33. On the missed second shot, Holmdel was able to grab the offensive board, but couldn't cash in on the second chance opportunity. A little less than a minute and a half later, the Hornets had the ball again looking to go ahead by four, but Wright came up with a steal for a layup that tied the game at 35-35 with 4:25 remaining.
Over the final 9:45 of the contest, there were four lead changes and three ties. The last of those lead changes would occur following a double foul that was assessed on Cole and a Holmdel player at the 3:50 mark. The Hornets got the ball down low moments later, and drew a foul from Russel that resulted in a pair of foul shots for a 37-35 lead with 3:48 to play in regulation. On the very next South Plainfield possession, the Tigers turned the ball over as Russel's pass went out of bounds at the 3:32 mark. The Shore Conference school turned that miscue into points on a layup at the 3:22 mark for a 39-35 lead. After an SPHS timeout at the 3:15 mark, Holmdel drew a foul from Gibson, but missed both foul shots. However, on the second miss, the Hornets got the critical offensive board at the 2:49 mark, and ten seconds later, picked up another foul from Russel, who left the game with five personal fouls at the 2:39 mark. Now without one of their tallest players, and Holmdel sinking both subsequent free throws, South Plainfield found itself in a very difficult position down 41-35. The Tigers kept fighting though as Burton made a nice pass to an open Darrin Campbell, one of the heroes from the football team's win over Scotch Plains with an interception on a fourth down and long late in the game to seal the win, for a layup that made the score, 41-37 at the 2:26 mark. Holmdel did like all Hornets do though, and stung the Tigers with a layup on its next possession for a 43-37 lead. Unable to score over the next next 1:06, South Plainfield was now on the ropes after another one of two was made by the Hornets at the 1:03 mark for a 44-37 lead.
Gibson gave SPHS some life though with a three pointer from the right wing at the 47 second mark to close the gap to four again at 44-40, but Holmdel continued to keep the Tigers at arm's length with a pair from the charity stripe at the 32 second mark for a 46-40 lead. Burton would get the final points of the contest for South Plainfield on a drive for a layin from the left wing to close the gap to four again at 46-42 with 22 seconds to play. However, the Tigers just couldn't get over the hump in this one as the Hornets salvaged a game in the always tough John "Butch" Kowal Tournament with two pairs of free throws at the end while Wright fouled out in the 50-42 Holmdel victory. With the win, the Hornets, which lost the night before to St. Peter's Prep of Jersey City in the consolation game that preceeded J.P. Stevens' win over Scotch Plains, improved to 2-3 overall on the season while South Plainfield dropped to 1-5.
Team |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
Holmdel (2-3) |
12 | 10 | 12 | 16 | 50 |
South Plainfield (1-5) |
9 | 9 | 14 | 10 | 42 |
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