Second Ranked Chiefs Breeze To An Opening Night Victory, 72-32
SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ–Last year, South Brunswick lost all starters from their 27-3 Central Jersey Group IV championship run, this year they lost all starters from a team that lose to eventual runner up in Central Jersey Group IV Trenton Central in the quarterfinals. Having to replace the likes of Arman Wilson, Jordan Teicher, and Mo Sanu isn’t easy. For the Piscataway Chiefs, last year they had the exact same run that South Brunswick had two years ago, which was losing in the GMC semifinals, but eventually going to the Group IV Final. This year the Chiefs coached by Guy Jensen, return one starter, preseason all area player from the Courier News, Tristan Benjamin. With a lot of new faces playing major minutes the season should be an interesting one.
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Finally, the season started for both teams and Vito Ross got the scoring started with a baseline jumper to give the Vikings a 2-0 lead. The Chiefs quickly responded with Tristan Benjamin getting a tip in, and Wayne Newsom with a follow up. Then a turnover by starting point guard Josh Davis led to a Thomas Bennett layup, and South Brunswick called a timeout. Piscataway put in there leader Senior Aaron Hush, who recently won Middlesex County Player of the Year for football, and he made a quick impact with some early buckets. With the score 10-2, Andrew Buckner of South Brunswick had a hoop and the harm, to make the score 10-5, but Jeff Adkins was able to knock down a 3, and make it 13-5, and the quarter ended with Sophomore Kory Sanders having a fallaway jumper to cut the lead to 16-9. The Chiefs had a dominant second quarter, and took control going into the locker room with a score of 29-15.
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Piscataway came out ready for the 2nd half, as they went into a full court press against the Vikings, and cause numerous turnovers, which led to six different players scoring for Piscataway, and before anyone looked up the score stood 47-18. South Brunswick in the fourth quarter played its best offensive quarter, but also played really bad defensively. With a few minutes left, Jamar Rose got to the open court and slammed it home to cap off a 72-32 win on opening night for the Chiefs in South Brunswick.
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The Chiefs look really good for years to come, as their freshmen and JV squads did well last year, and continued that with a three way sweep over South Brunswick. Piscataway will next be playing at possibly the highest level of talent in any Len Sepanak Memorial Tournament at Ridge, with teams like Bloomfield Tech, Somerville, Rutgers Prep, Montgomery, Ridge, and Immaculata. While South Brunswick will be competing at the first ever Ryan Walp Challenge, in honor of the young man who passed away recently after a courageous battle with cancer, which will be a round robin red vs white clash.
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Piscataway (1-0) | 16 | 13 | 18 | 25 | 72 |
| South Brunswick (0-1) | 9 | 6 | 3 | 14 | 32 |