Strong First Quarter Is Enough For Little Falcons Victory
METUCHEN, NJ–For the first time since the Championship Game of the 2009 Perth Amboy/GMC Freshmen Tournament, St. Joseph’s-Green took on Piscataway. The Little Falcons of St. Joseph’s-Green has played in the last two Freshmen tourney finals including a 62-51 victory over East Brunswick in 2008 and a loss to Piscataway in last year’s final (57-52). St. Joseph’s, which has two freshman teams, has had a team in the championship game of the freshmen tournament in each of the last three seasons. St. Joseph’s-White won the title back in 2007. This game was the second time this season that GMC Hoops has seen the Little Chiefs in action while it was the first time seeing the Little Falcons.
Early on, this game had the appearance of the varsity game played later in the evening as St. Joseph’s-Green jumped out to a 16-2 lead just three and a half minutes into the game, and led 26-6 after one period. Sean Finan (12 points) and Matthew Woody (11 points) highlighted an 8-0 spurt to close the first period. Finan got a score at the 2:51 mark to make it 20-6 while also blocking a shot at the 2:23 mark. Woody scored a layup off a pass from Matthew Greene (12 points) at the 2:30 mark, and got another basket on a layup at the 1:37 mark to cap the run, and the opening period scoring.
Piscataway, which lost in its opener to Perth Amboy back on December 18th, fought back with a 15-12 showing in the second quarter as it put together a 32-23 showing over a span of 14:34 to pull within eleven at 49-38 with less than a minute and a half to go in the third. Clarence Morris (8 points) scored six of his points in the frame including a jumper at the 3:08 mark, a score on a follow off his own miss at the 2:50 mark, and a short jumper in the left low block at the 2:24 mark. Marcus Freeney, who had a team high 12 points for P-Way, closed out the first half with a drive upcourt through traffic for a last second shot just inside the three point line to make the score 38-21 at the break. Six different players scored for St. Joseph’s in the period.
In the third, the Little Chiefs opened with a 17-11 showing over the first 6:34 as Freeney scored seven points during the stretch including a flip shot at the 5:45 mark, a short jumper at the 4:59 mark, and a three pointer at the 4:25 mark. David Claybrook (9 points) also scored during the run. However, St. Joseph’s closed the period with a 9-2 run to take a 58-40 lead on a three pointer by Brian Fitzpatrick at the one minute mark, and two threes in the final 20.8 seconds by Salman Hasan, who ended up with a game high 20 points. The fourth quarter saw its fewest points of any period in this game as both teams combined for just 21. P-Way got the lion’s share with a 12-9 edge, but it wasn’t enough as the Little Falcons won by 15. Pat Skowronski scored five points in the period for St. Joseph’s while Claybrook scored four for the Little Chiefs.
St. Joseph’s-Green doesn’t look as strong as the team that went 22-5 en route to a finals berth last year. However, that Little Falcons team also had Quenton DeCosey. This year’s team still looks strong enough to contend for another Freshmen Tourney title. With the victory, St. Joe’s-Green improved to 8-2 on the year. The Little Falcons have already played the likes of Bloomfield (won 59-50), Seton Hall Prep (won 41-39), and Monsignor Farrell of Staten Island twice (lost in Farrell Christmas Tournament 59-53 and won on January 11th 58-55). The Little Chiefs, which went 18-1 last year (only loss to St. Joe’s-Green), are a little down this year, but still have exciting players in Freeney, Claybrook, and Morris. Both teams have lost to Perth Amboy this season. The Little Panthers, which also defeated Bridgewater, may be a contender for the frosh title this year.