Piscataway honors state championship team with win over East Brunswick

PISCATAWAY - On a night when the Piscataway High School boys basketball team was honoring its 1993-94 NJSIAA Group IV championship team, the Chiefs were able to add to the celebration with a victory.

Piscataway (6-3) won its fifth game in a row with a 67-62 win over Greater Middlesex Conference Red Division foe East Brunswick (3-6), despite a late, fourth-quarter comeback by the Bears.

"It feels great, especially because we usually can't beat (East Brunswick), but this year is different. There's a whole different nucleus and our team is just a lot more together and reformed," Piscataway's Jordan Davidson said. "We played together and we kept together on defense. When we kept together on defense we caused a lot of turnovers and when we had a lot of turnovers then it got us a lot of free opportunities at the basket."

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At halftime, Piscataway brought the former players and family members of the 1993-94 Group IV championship team. That year, the Chiefs went 23-2, were named the GMC Red Division champions and the GMC Tournament champions.

"I just can't put that into words, everybody knows those guys, they're so special to the program," Piscataway first-year head coach Darius Griffin said. "When I got hired, that was one of the first things I wanted to do, is have a night where we honor them, because I wanted the present players to rub shoulders and see what it's like,  and hopefully they could take one or two things that will help emphasize the things we're trying to do."

The history that was in the gym on Thursday night might have provided some motivation for Piscataway, as the team had to dig deep in order to get to the victory. The Chiefs started  strong and led the Bears by as many as 19 points in the third quarter, but East Brunswick chipped away and managed to tie the game  at 54 with 3:50 remaining.

Piscataway's Keyshawn Grant made back-to-back trips to the free throw line and sank all four shots to pull the Chiefs ahead, 58-54, but a 3-pointer from Brandon Rosenthal and a basket from Joe Sampson gave East Brunswick its first lead of the night, 60-58, with 2:12 to play.

"East Brunswick is a very good team, and coach (Mark) Motusesky, he's a heck of a coach, he's been around a long time and there's a reason he's been around and he had his kids ready to play," Griffin said. "Our kids were ready to play as well, but they hit some big shots. Every time I thought that they were ready to fold it in, they just kept fighting and I'm trying to let my kids know that everybody is going to gun for us. We can't afford to take a night off, we just can't, so that's the mindset."

A trip to the line by Piscataway's Jordan Davidson retied the game 60-60 with 1:43 left, and a steal and a basket by Davidson 20 seconds later put the Chiefs back ahead, 62-60. A basket by Grant gave Piscataway a four-point lead, 64-60, with 53.2 seconds to play, but a trip to the line by Dante Ralph kept East Brunswick close, 64-62, with 49.4 to go.

Piscataway's D'Ondre Dent sealed the game with two trips to the free throw line and three points in the final 49.4 seconds, to give the Chiefs the 67-62 victory.

"We knew they were going to come out with a tough defense, and every year we struggle with them, but we just had to stay focused and move the ball, pass, cut, do all of that," Grant said. "I felt like we just had to stay focused, and if we just put our minds to it and play defense like our coach says, then we can just do what we do. Just stay focused and never give up."

Down 47-28 with 3:24 remaining in the third quarter, the Bears went to work and began to climb back into the game, getting to within 47-36 on a 8-0 run thanks to two 3s from Mitchell Pingoy, and cut the lead to 10, 51-41, after three.

After Piscataway scored to open the fourth quarter, East Brunswick went on another 13-1 run that last almost three minutes to tie the game 54-54 on a basket by Sampson.

The Chiefs led 16-9 after the first quarter and 28-21 at halftime.

Davidson led Piscataway with 18 points while Grant finished with 16 points. Dent added 13 points and six rebounds while Mattias Arrindell scored 13 points. For the Bears, Sampson led with 20 points while Ralph, who sat most of the first half in foul trouble, recorded a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

"I was very proud of them because all of the little things that we teach every day at practice, the jumping to the ball, the talking, having the right leg up, don't give up the baseline, boxing out, I think the final two or three minutes, all of that started to happen," Griffin said. "I think the players are starting to believe in the things I'm trying to teach them and I just have to continue to emphasize those things and we have to continue to get better because it's not going to get any easier, every game is going to be tough, especially in the Red Division."

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