Boys basketball: Old Bridge advances in GMCT
OLD BRIDGE - Twice the East Brunswick High School boys basketball team went on runs in the second half to cut into Old Bridge’s lead with their fans ecstatic and players pumped.
The perfect antidote to that?
“You just have to remain calm,” Old Bridge forward Kyle Parris said. “If things get too out of control, you just need to remember you’re still in the game. The game’s not over. Just keep focused.”
Easy to say, but not always easy to do. But Parris and Old Bridge kept their wits and made their layups and free throws to hold off the 12th-seeded Bears 68-58 in a Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament first round game Thursday.
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Fifth-seeded Old Bridge will play in Sunday’s quarterfinal against No. 4 Woodbridge, which beat No. 13 South Plainfield, 74-51, on Thursday.
Parris scored 22 points and fellow senior Rich Calandrino added 19, including seven straight points in the third quarter to kill a run. Three sophomore guards — Julius Belton (13 points), Jared Meyer (eight points) and Mike Oliva (two points) — also contributed.
Old Bridge entered the GMCT with confidence having beaten top-seeded St. Joseph (Met.) in double overtime on Feb. 7, and winning its last six of seven. But the teams split in the regular season, making this a tossup despite the records.
“Any time we play them it’s always going to be a game,” Old Bridge coach Paul Salisbury said. “Even though we were up 15 going into the fourth, or whatever it was, you knew they were going to make a run. They don’t quit and they’re tough-nosed kids.
“I think that we have grown as the season has gone on here. In the beginning of the year, the game may have went a different way. But we have three guards that are sophomores that play a lot of minutes for us. I think they’ve matured and I think that they have taken the test now, and they’re no longer sophomores.”
The Knights (16-7) led by 10 at halftime and by 13 in the third quarter. East Brunswick (12-11) went on a 15-4 run to cut it to 50-48 with just under five minutes remaining. After trading baskets, Old Bridge’s Belton ran straight in for a layup. Parris then got a layup and foul shot to increase the Knights’ lead to 57-50.
“We just couldn’t get that one bucket we needed,” East Brunswick coach Mark Motusesky said. “If we get a tie or take that lead on a three, who knows? It’s different. But we just gave up too many easy second shots when we needed to come back. But they battled, though. They never gave up and they battled their hearts out, which I’m happy about. The team never quits, so that’s a good thing about them.”
In a somewhat unusual first half, East Brunswick’s leading scorer Dante Ralph got three fouls in the first four minutes and was on the bench most of the time. The Bears remained close by hitting six 3-pointers to trail 31-21 at intermission. Gil Wyman drilled three of those shots and Joe Sampson, Ezra Levitt and Ryan Crocco each nailed a 3-pointer. The Bears only non-trey points came off of Sampson’s free throw with 1:27 left in the half and on Crocco’s basket with three seconds left. Sampson finished with 14 points.
Ralph led the comeback in the second half with 20 points, hustling for rebounds and putbacks. In the third, the Bears went on a 10-4 stretch to cut it to 35-31. But Calandrino hit a 3-pointer with just over 2:30 left to make it 38-31. After a rebound, Calandrino drilled a 3-pointer and was fouled. His free throw gave the Knights a 42-31 lead.
Calandrino said it was probably the first four-point play in his life. He simply remained calm, as did his team.
“The game of basketball is full of runs,” he said. “You’re going to go down sometimes, but you got to be able to fight back and come back up.”