Working on getting up to date on all the summaries for the 2011-12 season.

GMC Hoops Summaries--Decmeber 28, 2011
Holiday Tournaments--NJTAC Holiday Tourney

E.B. Tech Rolls Past Sussex Tech Into NJTAC Tourney Final, 58-29

By Greg Machos
December 28, 2011

EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ—With the losses of four players from last year's team that qualified for the state tournament last year, the Tigers of East Brunswick Tech struggled to start the season as they lost three straight contests by double digit margins. However, with Piscataway Tech pulling out of this year's NJTAC tourney to compete in the Prime Time/ESCIT Holiday Tournament at Trenton Catholic, this year's tourney is wide open, and the Tigers are looking to take advantage.

After easily defeating Morris Tech in the first round of the tournament on Tuesday, E.B. Tech faced Sussex Tech in the semifinals. The Mustangs got a bye in the first round. Playing the extra game helped the Tigers as they jumped out to a 23-8 lead in just the first ten minutes of the game, and never looked back in a 58-29 victory. East Brunswick Tech advanced to Friday's Championship Game against Gold Division foe, Perth Amboy Tech, a winner in the other semifinal over Somerset Tech (71-49). The Patriots and Tigers have yet to face each other this season.

Leading the way for the Tigers was sophomore guard, Mark Alston, who pumped in a game high 22 points including 14 over a span of just 7:01 of the final two periods of the contest to help put a bow on the win. Senior forward, Mike Hardy chipped in with 15 points including eleven in the first half to help E.B. Tech jump out to a 27-13 lead at the intermission. Dequan Calimese and Joe Dukes each added 5 points. The Tigers outscored the Mustangs in each quarter, and had eight players get into the scorebook. Sussex Tech, which only had six players score in the game, was led by Chris Greene with 9 points. E.B. Tech had a 9-6 edge in points scored from beyond the arc, but had a much bigger edge in two point field goals (23-10).

East Brunswick Tech got off to a solid start with a 20-7 showing in the first quarter. The Tigers went up by 15 points on a couple of occasions in the early second before Greene hit a three pointer for the Mustangs to cut the deficit to a dozen with 4:45 left in the first half. Both teams struggled offensively as neither shot well from the perimeter. The home team scored the final points of the half when Hardy picked up a steal, and dished to a teammate for a layup, and a 27-13 lead with a little more than a minute remaining before halftime. The Tigers opened the second half with a 7-0 run that included a score by senior forward Branden Lenahan (4 points) and two from Hardy to take a 34-13 lead at the 3:18 mark of the third.

Alston took over from there. After Sussex Tech blocked a shot, took the rebound, and went in for a layup with 2:49 left, Alston drove in for a layup at the 2:20 mark, and putback a miss by Lenahan with 20 seconds to go in the third for a 42-17 lead. The sophomore followed that up by connecting on a jumper off a spin move at the 7:10 mark, scoring a layup off a steal at the 6:40 mark, and dishing to a teammate for another score at the 5:21 mark for a 48-17 lead. The Tigers added another score from Lenahan to cap a 14-0 tear in just 4:53 to take a commanding 50-17 lead. Alston wasn't finished yet either. He added a basket in the paint at the 4:49 mark, a reverse layup at the 3:43 mark, and a layup underneath with 3:19 left for a 56-21 lead.

Playing for pride, the Mustangs finished the contest on a positive note with an 8-4 showing the rest of the way to close out the Tigers 58-29 win. With the victory, E.B. Tech improves to 2-3 on the season while Sussex Tech drops to 0-4. View the play by play from the final 22 minutes of the contest.

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