Early Fourth Quarter Spurt Lifts Junior Chiefs Past Junior Panthers
| Piscataway’s Mehki Morgan puts up a baseline jumper over Perth Amboy’s Quincy Hannah and Jesus Garcia in a JV contest. |
PISCATAWAY, NJ–Prior to the start of the varsity contest between Perth Amboy and Piscataway, GMC Hoops took in the second half of the JV contest between the two schools. Â The game was a very competitive one that had 3 lead changes and 5 ties and no lead was larger than 10 points. The game would be decided early in the fourth quarter as Piscataway’s JV put together a 15-3 spurt including two threes from the left wing to turn a 40-38 third quarter deficit into a 53-43 lead. Â The Junior Panthers rallied with a 15-9 run that brought the double digit deficit down to four late, but couldn’t get any closer as the Junior Chiefs came away with a hard fought, 68-62 win.
With the score tied at 29-29 after one half, Perth Amboy opened the second half scoring with a layup before Piscataway responded with the next four points on layups for a 33-31 lead as the Junior Panthers called timeout at the 6:03 mark of the third. Â Amboy would tie the game two more times before P-Way scored three points for a 38-35 lead midway through the frame. Â The Junior Panthers then took a two point lead heading into the fourth and final period as they connected on a three pointer from the top of the key at the 1:16 mark, and converted a putback just before the buzzer for a 40-38 advantage. Â It would be the last lead Amboy’s JV Â would have in the contest.
Piscataway took control of the game for good at the start of the fourth. Â The Junior Chiefs scored 15 of the first 18 points of the frame including back to back threes by Deandre Scott and Mattias Arrindell from the left wing prior to an Amboy timeout at the 6:10 mark, and a conventional three point play with 5:45 remaining to take a 51-42 lead. Â P-Way then scored two of the next three points for the largest lead of he second half before Amboy’s JV began to rally. Â Led by the trio of varsity reserves: Â Jesus Garcia, Luis Rivera, and Quincy Hannah, the Junior Panthers scored 15 of the next 24 points including a three pointer by Hannah and a pair of free throws by Garcia to close the gap to 57-50 with 3:29 remaining. Â Perth Amboy took advantage of Piscataway turnovers on its backcourt against the Junior Panthers pressure defense, and the Junior Chiefs inability to take time off the clock.
After Piscataway netted two free throws for a 59-50 lead, Amboy put together an 8-3 spurt to cap the 15-9 rally that pulled the Junior Panthers to within a couple of possessions with 1:21 remaining. Â However, P-Way didn’t let Amboy’s JV get any closer as the Junior Chiefs made free throws at the 56.6 second and 9.8 second marks to take a 68-60 lead before Garcia finished the game with a putback with a few seconds left for a 68-62 Piscataway victory. The Junior Chiefs had a more balanced attack with 7 different players scoring in the contest. Deandre Scott led P-Way with a team high 18 points while Cameron Santil chipped in with 15 and Brevin Donerson added 13. Mattias Arrindell and Mehki Morgan also contributed with 9 and 8 points respectively while Noah Freeney and Chris Edmundo rounded out Piscataway’s scoring with 3 and 2 points respectively.
Jesus Garcia led Perth Amboy in a losing cause with a game high 24 points along with 9 blocks while Quincy Hannah chipped in with 11. Piscataway had 19 field goals and three treys in the contest, but also went 21 of 30 from the foul line including a 12 of 15 showing in the fourth quarter alone. Santil went 9 of 11 from the charity sripe. The Junior Chiefs outscored the Junior Panthers by a margin of 39-33 in the second half including a 30-22 showing in the fourth quarter. Perth Amboy had 16 two point field goals, 4 threes, and made 18 of 30 free throws. Amboy took a 17-12 first quarter lead before P-Way outscored the Junior Panthers by the same 17-12 margin in the second to tie things up at the half. Both teams outscored the other in two of the four quarters.