Rams Sweep Chargers for 1st Time Since 2004-05
SPOTSWOOD, NJ–Derrick Whitaker led four different players in double figures with 31 points as the South River Rams edged Spotswood in a GMC Blue clash on Tuesday night. The win gave South River its first season sweep of Spotswood since the 2004-05 season.
Joey Nigro chipped in with 17 points while freshman Jayvon Taylor added 15 and Mike DeSantis contributed with 10 for the winners. Big man Matt Pietrzyk only scored 6 points in the contest, but was a beast on the boards with a game high 18 rebounds. Matt Vento led all scorers with a game high 32 points while Andrew Fuzesi and Abdul Nieskens each chipped in with 12 points. J.T. Vento contributed with 9 points while grabbing 13 rebounds.
Trailing 44-41 at the half, South River outscored Spotswood in each of the last two periods by a combined margin of 40-34 for the three point win. South River outscored Spotswood in three of the four quarters played, but the Chargers took the halftime lead thanks to a 28-21 showing in the second in a period that saw almost a third of the game’s total points scored.
Both teams combined for 19 three pointers with the Chargers getting the lion’s share by outscoring the Rams by a margin of 33-24 from long distance. South River had a 32-30 edge in points scored from within the arc while enjoying a 25-15 advantage in points scored at the charity stripe. Seven different players scored for Spotswood while six got into the books for South River.
South River enjoyed a 36-35 edge in rebounds, a 5-3 edge in steals and a 2-0 edge in blocked shots while Spotswood had an 11-9 edge in assists. The win was the first time the Rams defeated Spotswood at the SAC in almost 11 years. The last time the Rams were victorious in Spotswood was on January 23, 2006 when they defeated the Chargers (65-48).
The last time South River swept the season series was when current Spotswood assistant and JV coach, Mike DelAversano was in his first year at the helm in Rams Country. In 2004-05, South River defeated Spotswood, 63-48 on December 22, 2004 and on February 4, 2005 by the score 42-36. The Rams also defeated the Chargers in the opening round of the South Amboy Tourney that season as well (42-35).
With the victory, South River improved to 5-8 overall, 3-6 in conference, and 3-5 in the GMC Blue. Meanwhile, Spotswood, which lost its fourth straight game, dropped to 4-9 overall including a 4-6 mark in the GMC, and a 2-6 record in divisional play. Both teams will be back in action later this week.
Spotswood will host Timothy Christian in a GMC crossover game on Friday night at 6:00 PM while South River will host New Brunswick in another GMC interdivisional battle on Saturday afternoon at 12:00 PM.