Boys Basketball: Hunterdon Central takes Raritan Division title with win over Watchung Hills

RARITAN TWP. - Two things were accomplished  Thursday night when the Hunterdon Central High School boys basketball team defeated Watchung Hills in a Skyland Conference Raritan Division matchup.

The first was that the Red Devils (11-6) clinched the division title for the third-straight year with a record of 7-3. Watchung Hills (12-6), which was aiming to win its first division crown, finished tied for second with North Hunterdon with a 6-4 record. 

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The second thing that happened was Hunterdon Central head coach Mike Falco won his 100th career game. 

"Having this victory at home and winning the title on our court was very important to us," Hunterdon Central's John Sperrazza said.

Thursday's game was the second meeting of the season for the two teams, with the Warriors winning the first matchup, 69-53,  on Jan. 11. 

"They just outplayed us in that game. We didn't come ready to play from the start, and that loss has stuck with us, from then until now, we've been thinking about that one loss," Sperrazza said. "We've marked this date on our calendar that they were coming in here , and we just brought the intensity. I think we outplayed them, and that's what our goal was."

Watchung Hills led 13-9 after the first quarter and was up 22-19 with 1:10 remaining in the half when Jacob Krantz hit a 3-pointer with 0.8 seconds remaining to send the game into halftime tied at 22.

That 3 was the spark the Red Devils needed for the second half, as Joshua Bridenbaugh scored to open the third quarter, which gave Hunterdon Central the lead, 24-22.

Watchung Hills' Mike Hopwood scored to retie the game at 24 with 5:07 left, but a basket from Sam Johnson put Hunterdon Central back in front, 26-24, and it stayed there. 

"We were just hungry, in the locker room we were getting amped up," Sperrazza said of halftime. "We came back, we were down and once we started coming back there was no stopping us, we were on a roll."

Hunterdon Central outscored the Warriors 10-6 in the third quarter and led 32-28 after three. In the fourth, the Red Devils' defense against kept Watchung Hills in single digits as the offense poured in 16 points for the 48-37 final. 

"They pass the ball well, they shoot it well, so you have to try and control (Dan) Pilsbury and (Steven) Bressler, those are the two guys that can really throw it up," Falco said of Watchung Hills. "So we put a lot of emphasis on those guys not really going off and killing us and just maybe try to take advantage of going inside a little bit with some of our guys. They jumped on us early last time and took it to us, so I thought the guys did a good job on defense with the way they really dug in today and played, especially in the second half."

Bressler led Watchung Hills with 11 points, while Pilsbury finished with 10 points and five rebounds. Hopwood added eight points and five rebounds. 

For Hunterdon Central, Sperrazza led with 16 points, with 14 points coming in the second half, and pulled down six rebounds. Johnson recorded 14 points and seven rebounds. Bridenbaugh chipped in eight points. 

Thursday's victory was the third in a row for Hunterdon Central, which has welcomed back players coming off of injuries in the last few games. Alex Degen, the starting center, was out for a month, Johnson was out for two weeks and Anthony McDowell was out with an illness. 

With the return of experienced veterans, the Red Devils are hopeful they'll start to peak at just the right time. 

"It's really nice to have everybody back, almost," Johnson said. "Degen got some nice spot minutes there, finally coming back, I was walking off an ankle injury in the beginning, Anthony McDowell was sick, so it's really nice to have everybody back, everybody's having fun." 

For Hunterdon Central, winning the division title was just the first of many goals the team wants to accomplish this season. Last year the Red Devils won its first NJSIAA Central Group IV title and fell in the Group IV semifinals to Shawnee. This year, they hoping to repeat that success, and maybe go one step further. 

"Our goals every year are to lead county and section, and a state championship at some point, we'd love to get that, but especially with some of the stuff, the injuries and things that we've dealt with and different guys stepping up, we have a lot of depth," Falco said. "I'm just proud of our guys because we haven't fully gotten everyone healthy and suited up probably until the other night, so hopefully it's a sign for us with February coming that we can start playing pretty well."

Staff Writer Lauren Knego: lknego@gannettnj.com; on Twitter: @laurenknego