Returning Back To Normal After Holiday Blizzard Proves To Be Quite Challenging
A little more than 24 hours after the final flakes fell across Central Jersey, many tried to get back into the swing of things on Tuesday. Whether it was getting back to work, or getting back on the basketball beat like I was, we were all trying to return to normalcy following a terrible storm that left the Garden State as well as much of the Northeast paralyzed.
Sometimes though, returning to normal takes a couple steps backward before you can move forward again. Such was the case for me yesterday. Many holiday tournaments were still trying to get fired up again. Meanwhile, others were holding back another day so that the roads and parking lots at several of the area schools could get better cleared out. I found that out when I traveled over to Edison High School for the opening round of the Gene Haley Tournament and South Amboy Middle/High School for the opening round of the South Amboy Tournament.
Major cleanup operations were taking place at both schools. The parking lots at each school were still in the process of being cleared of all the snow that fell there. I was able to confirm that the South Amboy Tournament was going to take place on Wednesday and Thursday. However, one team, Henry Hudson Regional of Highlands in Monmouth County withdrew from the tournament. I didn’t hear anything concerning the Gene Haley Tournament, but I’m pretty sure that the tournament will take place starting on Wednesday.
So, I decided to go back home, and get ready to see the lone semifinal game of the second annual Anthony J. Cotoia Tournament at South Plainfield High School. I walked over to the school, and got there with no problems. Kudos to the folks at SPHS for having the parking lot and sidewalks outside the gym cleared for the game. They did a great job of clearing out all of the snow. The parking lot was pretty much all black top. Unfortunately, the Tigers lost to Perth Amboy by a final score of 62-34. The Panthers depth, pressure, and up-tempo game was too much for South Plainfield.
After returning home, I decided to see if I could get out to two more games. First, I was going to travel over to Hillside to see St. Joe’s take on Lincoln of Jersey City in the opening round of the Joe Silver Holiday Tournament. Then, after that, I had planned to head down Route 22 West over to Bound Brook to see what was left of the game between the Crusaders and Spotswood. Well, things didn’t quite work out that way. First, on my way to Route 22, I got stuck in traffic on Terrill Road in Fanwood. So, I decided to take a detour.
The detour was County Road 610 in Union County, which took me a ways out of my way. So, I turned down a side street, and embarked on an odyssey that for sure got me more lost than a bargained for, not to mention behind schedule. Nevertheless, I kept forging ahead, and somehow, I ended up getting on Route 22 East in Scotch Plains. Things went well for a while, and I was hopeful that I would still make it to the gym on time, but then there was the traffic in Union. The Parkway, Route 82, and Route 22 were backed up significantly.
It wasn’t until 5:40 PM that I arrived at Hillside High School. However, I got the biggest surprise of all when I stepped into the gym, and found out that Lincoln of Jersey City hadn’t shown up yet for its game against the Falcons. Fans ended up waiting until about 7:00 PM for the game to start. In the meantime, we were entertained by the St. Joe’s scorekeeper, who hit a number of halfcourt shots, and Brandon Dolan, who hit a number of shots from his spot on the bench. St. Joe’s ended up winning its game against Lincoln by the score of 58-39. A decisive 18-4 second quarter in which Quenton DeCosey struck for 10 of his game high 22 points including 3 of 5 from three point range, proved to be the difference.
Due to the late start, I wasn’t able to get over to Bound Brook. Instead I went home, and eventually went to sleep a little bit after 10:00 PM. With all the trouble I went through, I only saw two games. It was a long day, but it was nice to get back on the beat. Even if it meant taking a couple steps back.