New Providence @ Middlesex–Central Jersey Group I State Tournament–February 28, 2008

Blue Jays Advance With First State Tourney Win Since 2001, 43-40

MIDDLESEX, NJ–Middlesex fell behind the senior leadership of John Stockton and Nick Fariella who they leaned heavily on the offensive end to put away a pesky New Providence team and give the Blue Jays their state tournament win in the Brain Feath Era, and also since the 2000-01 season when the Jays reached the Championship game before losing to GMC Blue Division rival, Highland Park. 

Behind a packed MHS gym where not only the two main bleachers were stuffed with fans, but the two side bleachers housed the student sections for each team that took turns shouting to the adjacent side.  Neither team showed much in the first quarter in the ways of offense as the teams tied 10-10.  A lot of driving the lane by Billy Beck and Dan Buchler gave the Pioneers much of their points with the Jays recieving most from behind the arc.

The second quarter was nearly as stingy as Middlesex and New Providence were trading twos and threes to the tune of a 8-8 slugfest.  With the score knotted at 18 both teams knew they
needed to make the neccesary half time adjustments to avoid the alter from mounting an offensive attack that would leave their team in the wake. Enter the Stockton Brothers, much like Mario and Luigi less the moustaches. 

While Sparky wasnt his usual force on the offensive side (4 pts, 1-5 FG) but more then made up for it with 8 assists and 8 rebounds.  The star of the night though, was John, a senior leader whose intanibles cannot be measured.  He had a game high 20 points to help the Jays pull a double digit lead going into the 4th winning 34-24. Center Nick Fariella helped cement the lead with 6 points in the final sector while Ryan Farley hit a pair of free throws with 13.8 left to make it 43-38 and the Jays held on for the 43-40 victory to advance in the 2008 Central Jersey Group I State Tournament, and sent the Middlesex faithful home happy.   

With the victory, Middlesex improves to 18-6 overall, and 5-0 against non-conference foes this season. The Jays will host the Bishops of Asbury Park on Saturday.  New Providence’s season has closed, and the Pioneers from the Valley Division of the Mountain Valley Conference finished at 13-11. Take a look at the box score, the three stars from the game, and the team statistics.

Scorecard

Team 1 2 3 4 Final
New Providence (13-11) 10 8 6 16 40
Middlesex (18-6) 10 8 16 9 43

Three Stars of the Game

  • John Stockton – Middlesex – The senior guard buried a pair of threes, a long two and a mid range jumper to help take anyone’s game to a game where it was the Jays to lose.
  • Billy Beck – New Providence– His ability to drive and hit falling away shots proved invaluable to keeping his team right next to Middlesex in the scoreboard in the first half.
  • Nick Fariella – Middlesex – Started off slow but exploded in the final 12 minutes scoring all of his 8 points and being a force on the glass.

 

Team Statistics

# Middlesex Points Rebounds Assists Steals Fouls Blocks Other
23 Nick Fariella 8 6 1 1 0 2 0
20 Sparky Stockton 4 8 8 1 1 0 0
12 John Stockton 20 3 2 0 1 1 0
2 Billy Lester 0 1 3 0 2 0 0
5 Mike Perone 6 0 3 0 1 0 0
1 Ryan Farley 2 3 0 0 0 0 0
3 Mike Colacci 3 1 0 1 1 0 0
14 Kyle Paul Adams 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
33 Mike Fincher 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
  Totals 43 22 17 3 6 3 0
# New Providence Points Rebounds Assists Steals Fouls Blocks Other
21 Dan Bucher 13 2 2 0 2 1 0
10 Billy Beck 14 7 3 0 2 0 0
2 Jimmy Griffith 4 5 2 0 2 0 0
14 Eddie Morgan 0 5 0 0 2 0 0
33 Marc Iacovelli 4 2 2 0 1 0 0
20 Jimmy Siragusa 5 1 1 2 0 0 0
30 Danny Trench 0 0 0 0 2 0 0
20 Brian Moschetti 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
44 John Lesinwich 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
42 Nick Bailog 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
45 John Putteres 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
43 Jack Cole 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
23 Steve Vigilante 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
  Totals 40 22 10 2 12 1 0