Ugarte and Thakral Lead Vikings to Easy Win
MONMOUTH JUNCTION, NJ–Coming into its contest with New Brunswick on the second and final day of action at the 2016 Brunswick Classic at South Brunswick High School, the South Brunswick Vikings had been dominating much of their early season schedule.
With the exception of the opening night, 62-53 victory over third ranked Old Bridge, the Vikes have rolled through their opponents by an average of 22.5 points per game including an opening round 62-40 victory over North Brunswick in the Brunswick Classic on Tuesday afternoon.
Thursday afternoon’s nightcap varsity game would be no exception. New Brunswick would score the first points of the game courtesy of football standout, Curtis Revan, but then the Zebras would fall victim to a South Brunswick tidal wave in the form of a 39-9 surge the rest of the half, and never recover.
Taking a 39-11 halftime lead, the top ranked Vikings were able to cruise to an easy 70-45 victory. Twelve different players played in the game for South Brunswick with 11 of them scoring. Kunal Thakral led the way with a career high 20 points including seven field goals, a three pointer, and three foul shots while Mike Ugarte chipped in with 17.
Ryan Moran added 8 points while Tavian Alford contributed with 6. Revan led New Brunswick with 9 points while freshman point guard, Ahyan Brown-Miller chipped in with 8. Football standout, German Pimentel also added 8 points despite being hampered with foul trouble.
South Brunswick outscored New Brunswick in each of the first two periods including a 24-5 showing in the second that blew the game open. The Zebras played more respectably in the second half with a 33-31 showing over the final two periods including a 14-12 edge in the third.
The Vikings outscored the Zebras by a 12-3 margin in points scored from beyond the arc while also garnering a 42-22 edge in points scored from within the arc, and a 13-7 edge in points scored from the charity stripe. South Brunswick would gradually overwhelm New Brunswick during the course of the first half.
After giving up the opening score, the Vikings scored six of the next eight points in about two minutes including a drive down the left lane for a bucket by Thakral for a 6-4 lead at the 6:29 mark. A little more than two and a half minutes later, the Vikes got a three from the left corner by Anthony Blakey to cap a 5-2 burst for an 11-4 lead with 3:55 remaining in the first.
South Brunswick then scored 4 of the last 6 points of the opening stanza including a putback by Greg Lee (2 points) off a missed jumper by Ryan Moran just before the buzzer for a 15-6 lead. The Vikings picked up right where they left off to start the second with 9 unanswered points over a 1:39 span including a three by Moran for a 24-6 lead.
Over the ensuing 2:40, South Brunswick continued to pour it on by scoring 11 of the next 13 points including a putback by Alford following two offensive rebounds for a 35-8 lead with 3:41 remaining in the first half. The Vikes then scored 4 of the last 7 points including a layup in the closing seconds by Moran for a 39-11 lead at the break.
South Brunswick’s lead grew to 30 points by the five minute mark of the third after the Vikings started the second half on a 6-4 run capped by a jumper from the left baseline by Thakral for a 45-15 lead. A little over a minute later, the lead grew to 32 points at 48-16 on a trey from the left wing by Ugarte at the 3:44 mark.
At this point, New Brunswick began to make the game look more respectable by scoring 16 of the next 23 points over a span of 6:01 including a three from the right wing by Jody Harris off a steal and assist by Pimentel to narrow the deficit to 55-32 with 5:43 remaining.
Despite a layup by Kenny Lebron to close the gap to 62-39 with 3:04 to play, South Brunswick managed to outscore the Zebras the rest of the way by a margin of 15-13 for the 70-45 win. With the victory, South Brunswick improves to 5-0 overall and in the GMC while New Brunswick fell to 1-4 overall and in conference play.