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GMC Hoops Summaries--December 28, 2011
Holiday Tournaments--Keansburg Tourney

Walters And Markulin Lead Titans Past Rams For Tourney Crown, 50-36

By Greg Machos
December 28, 2011

KEANSBURG, NJ--The season is young, but there is a lot to be positive about in Keansburg. With only eight players suiting up for Wednesday's championship game of the Keansburg Holiday Tournament. against South River, the Titans continued to play surprisingly well. Keansburg fell behind 2-0 within the first 30 seconds of the game before going on a 17-5 run over a span of about eight minutes to take a 17-7 lead early in the second quarter, and never looked back en route to a 50-36 victory.

South River, which earned a spot in Wednesday's final thanks to a 43-38 victory over Henry Hudson in the first round on Tuesday, was held to single digits in each of the first three periods as the hometown Titans jumped out to a 38-19 lead. The Rams, which got a team high 13 points from junior Tyler Harris, scored almost as many points in the fourth as they outscored Keansburg 17-12 to make the score a bit more respectable. The Titans, which defeated South Amboy in the opening round by a 44-30 score, improved to a 4-0 in one of the best starts in school history.

Six different players got into the scoring column for the Titans while seven scored for South River. Both teams were even in points scored from beyond the arc (9-9) and the Rams actually held a 9-5 edge in points scored from the foul line, but Keansburg had 18 two point field goals versus only 9 for their foes. Tyler Walters led the way for Keansburg with 17 points including all three treys for the winners while teammate Dan Markulin, who scored 21 points in a loss to the Rams in the opening round of the South Amboy tourney last year, chipped in with 14. Harris was the only person to score in double figures for the Rams while Thomas Drum chipped in with 7 points.

The game started off promising for South River as Keansburg committed a turnover at the 7:40 mark, and Bobby Applegate, who scored all four of his points for the game, scpred a basket as he was fouled with just 30 seconds gone by in the game. However, after Applegate missed the bonus free throw, the Titans scored seven of the next eight points including a three pointer from the top of the key by Walters at the 5:15 mark. The only point for the Rams came from Harris, who made one of two from the line at the 6:00 mark for a 3-2 lead. Harris got the Rams within two again at 7-5 when he scored down low at the 4:55 mark. The Titans would let their opponent get any closer than that the rest of the way by scoring six of the last eight points to end the first, and the first two baskets of the second for a ten point lead.

Highlighting the run for the Titans was a jumper in the paint at the 4:01 mark, a short jumper at the 3:00 mark, and a foul line jumper off a follow with 33 seconds to go in the first. Keansburg then got a basket at the 7:23 mark of the second, and scored again with 7:03 remaining in the first half following a turnover by the Rams at the 7:15 mark. The Shore Conference school continued to roll from there with 7 of the last 11 points of the first half for a 24-11 lead at the intermission. Then, in the third quarter, the Titans held the Rams to single digits again as they went up by a two to one margin heading into the final period. With the loss, South River fell to 1-4. The Rams will look to rebound starting the new year with a home game against South Amboy on January 4th followed by road games at Perth Amboy Tech on January 6th, and again at Keansburg on January 9th.

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