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Trojans Defeat Rams Behind Bernocchi And Kroggman, 60-42 |
By Greg Machos
January 7, 2010NORTH EDISON, NJ--The gap between the haves and the have nots in the GMC Blue may be shrinking a little bit. The Blue Division looks stronger from the top to the bottom of its seven team league in 2009-10. J.F. Kennedy, South River, and Highland Park all appear to have improved with the Mustangs and Rams already surpassing last year's win totals while the Owls appear to be on their way to doing the same. South River won a holiday tournament for the first time in five years and also knocked off division contender, Metuchen on Tuesday night.
Despite all the chaos the may be unfolding in the rest of the division, one thing has remained the same, and that is Bishop Ahr, at the top of the heap. The Trojans, which had a bye on Tuesday, came up with a big win at home over Spotswood (57-52) in an early season divisional showdown. Entering Thursday's game against South River, the BGA had only suffered one defeat so far, and that was an out of conference loss to Franklin (65-39) in the Roselle Catholic Tournament.
However, the Rams were a tougher opponent than Ahr had expected. In four previous outings over the past two seasons, the Trojans had outscored the Rams by an average margin of a bit more than 38 points per game. The Trojans led by as many as 21 late in the fourth quarter in this one, but even then the Rams showed some fight with an 8-0 run to close the gap to 13 before finally succumbing in a 60-42 BGA victory. Matt Bernocchi scored six points in the first half, and seven points in the fourth period to end up with a team high 13 points on two field goals, a three pointer, and six foul shots.
Manny Kroggmann chipped in with a double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds as he connected on five field goals and two foul shots in the win. Senior guard, Rob Gomulka added 11 points including seven over the final two periods as he made three field goals, a trey, and two foul shots for the game. Leading all scorers was Brandon Walsh of South River, who registered his game high 14 points on four threes that all came in the second half, and a field goal. Shawn Fenton chipped in with 10 points on three field goals and four foul shots while Nick Boyler contributed with 9 points on two field goals, a three pointer, and two free throws.
The Trojans, which outscored the Rams in each period, connected on 20 field goals, 3 trifectas, and 11 free throws while South River made nine field goals, five threes, and nine foul shots. Ahr got on the board first for a 2-0 lead, but that was all the scoring that occurred over the first two plus minutes as both teams had a difficult time getting started. BGA finally took control of the contest with a 6-3 run including a layup by Justin Peoples (7 points) that made the score 8-3 as the Rams called for time at the 3:07 mark. Both teams then exchanged scores to close the period out as Ryan Blakely got his only two points of the game for Ahr with a layup that made the score, 10-5 going into the second.
The second quarter began wtih Ahr increasing its lead to double digits for the first time as the Trojans scored the first five points of the period including a three pointer by Pat Widdoss to make the score 15-5. South River, which had a tough time getting its offense on track in the first half, got three of those points back to make the score, 15-8 before the Rams called for a 30 second timeout. Bishop Ahr then scored six of the next seven points including a jumper and a layup by Kroggmannn to take a 21-9 lead. South River was being plagued by a familiar malady of season's past, which was foul shooting. The Rams one point came on four free throw attempts during the stretch.
Showing plenty of fight though, the Rams stayed within striking distance by scoring five of the next seven points including two free throws by Boyler, and a three point play by Xavier Foster (8 points) to close the gap to 23-14 with just seconds to go in the half. However, Ahr went into the locker room ahead by single digits again as Bernocchi sank two free throws for a 25-14 lead at the intermission. The second half began with BGA scoring 13 of the first 21 points of the third for a 38-22 advantage, but the Rams refused to go away as Walsh hit his first three, and then Fenton made one of two from the line to close the gap to 38-26.
A technical foul call would do the Rams in though at the 1:27 mark. Gomulka helped Ahr take nearly full advantage with a one of two showing from the line, and a layup for a 41-26 lead. The Trojans extended it to a 7-2 spurt with another score, and two free throws by Kroggmann for a 45-28 lead before Larry Smith, the hero of South River's win over Henry Hudson for the South Amboy Tourney title, came up with his only point of the game on one of two free throws at the 9.4 second mark of the third to make the score, 45-29 heading into the fourth. BGA then opened up the final period with a three pointer by Bernocchi to take a 48-29 lead with 7:06 left.
The Rams got on the board with a steal for a layup by Fenton that closed the gap to 48-31, but Gomulka put in a follow for a 50-31 lead at the 5:09 mark. Walsh connected on his second three before Ahr took it's biggest lead of the game at 55-34 by scoring five straight points. Walsh then made two straight threes, and Boyler added a layup for South River's best run of the game that made the score, 55-42 with 1:15 left. However, it was too little, too late for the Rams as Bernocchi and Gomulka combined for a 5 of 6 showing from the line down the stretch to wrap up the 60-42 win. With the victory, Bishop Ahr remains undefeated in GMC Blue play at 4-0 along with a 5-1 mark overall while South River drops to 4-4 overall including a 1-3 mark in the division.
Read the notes on this game as well as details on Metuchen's win over JFK, and analysis of all of Thursday's games in the GMC Hoops Blogosphere.
Team |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
Bishop Ahr (5-1) |
10 | 15 | 20 | 15 | 60 |
South River (4-4) |
5 | 9 | 15 | 13 | 42 |
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