Ugarte and Savage Lead Solid All Around Attack By Vikings
MONROE, NJ–In the second game of the Thursday night tripleheader at the 2014 Monroe Sports Center Summer League, the South Brunswick Vikings were without the services of top varsity returnee, Jack Engel, but it didn’t matter thanks to the efforts of soon to be sophomore, Mike Ugarte and Eric Savage. Â The duo led a dominant performance by the Vikes as they jumped out to a 41-15 halftime lead, and led by as many as 37 in the second half before winning 62-29.
Ugarte, who helped lead the South Brunswick JV squad to a Final Four berth in the 2014 East Brunswick/GMC JV Tournament this past February, had at least 10 points over the final 15:15 of the first half with a number of them coming during a 25-2 tear over a span of just 7:15 to turn a 5-5 tie into a commanding 30-7 lead. Â Reserve Danesh Thirukmaran, who netted a couple threes in the win over Morristown at the 2014 Montgomery Team Camp on June 11th, contributed to the outburst with two threes over a span of about 20 seconds to cap the run. Â Thirukmaran added another trey in the second half as well. Â Savage, who also scored 18 points in the victory over Morristown, had six points and an assist over the last 13:06 of the first half.
South Brunswick’s defense and depth helped wear down Colts Neck, and blow the game open. Â Over the first 4:45 of the game, the Cougars and Vikings were even, but South Brunswick began to take charge with 8 of the next 10 points over just 2:09 including a transition layup by Ugarte and a drive through the middle for another layup by Savage for a 13-7 lead with just over 13 minutes to play in the first half. Â The Vikings kept the foot on the gas by scoring 9 more unanswered points in just 2:57 for a 22-7 lead. Â Ugarte capped the run with another layup at the 10:09 mark, and then Savage showed nice tough on a short fadeaway jumper from the right low block for a 19-2 tear and a 24-7 lead with 9:48 to go in the first half.
SBHS wasn’t through yet either. Â Thriukmaran came off the bench and made his presence felt in the contest with a trey at the 8:21 mark followed by another one off a kickout by Ty Juan Dugger to finish the onslaught with about eight minutes left in the half. Â Colts Neck tried to fight its way back into the contest with a 6-0 run over a span of about two and a half minutes, but Isaiah Franklin, who also made some contributions in the win over Morristown at the Montgomery Team Camp, showed some tenacity on the offensive glass by grabbing a couple offensive rebounds, and putting one of them back in for a 32-13 lead with 4:56 remaining before halftime. Â The two teams exchanged scores including a layup by Nick Perel for a 34-15 SBHS advantage, and then Sean Nally got into the act with a three from the left side of the key at the 1:29 mark for a 37-15 lead.
Nally’s three kicked off a 7-0 run to end the half as Ugarte got a layup and a foul with 51.3 seconds left, and then after missing the bonus foul shot, he scored again as Dugger hustled for the offensive board, got it to Savage, who then dished to his left from the baseline to Ugarte for another layup, and a 41-15 lead with 41 seconds remaining. Â South Brunswick would take the large 26 point advantage into the half, and expand on it in the second half. Â After Colts Neck opened the scoring in the game’s final 20 minutes, the Vikes scored 10 of the next 12 points including a basket by Jaier Garrett, a baseline jumper from the left side by Ugarte, and a steal for a putback by Savage to take a 51-19 lead with 12:13 to play. Â Garrett and Perel then added scores while Thirukmaran added his third trey for a 60-23 lead with just over five minutes left to play.
South Brunswick coasted from there to the 33 point victory, and starts its summer at 1-0. Â GMC Hoops has seen South Brunswick twice so far this summer, and has been impressed by the Vikings play. Â While SBHS loses to key seniors in Corey Lumpkin and Sayreville transfer Jason Saldiveri from this past season’s roster, they still have Engel, Savage, Dugger, Ugarte, Garret, and Nally returning along with Andrew Avots. In addition, the Vikes also have talented youngsters such as Franklin and Thirukmaran from a JV team that reached the 2014 East Brunswick JV tournament semifinals, and from a Freshmen team that lost to St. Joseph’s-White in the Championship Game of the 2014 Perth Amboy Freshmen Tournament.
Both South Brunswick and Colts Neck will be back in action next week with South Brunswick taking on Robbinsville on Tuesday night, July 1st at 9:00 PM, and then again on Thursday, July 3rd at 8:50 PM versus Manalapan. Â Colts Neck will be back in action again on Tuesday night at 9:00 PM against Allentown.