Rams Senior Guard Needs Only 18 More Points to Reach a Grand
Wardlaw’s senior guard, Ryan Petela elevates for a go ahead jumper late in the fourth quarter in the Rams 41-40 last second loss to David Brearley of Kenilworth in the opening round of the 2019 Hopatcong Holiday Tournament on December 26, 2018. Petela is looking to score his 1,000th career point this week.
NORTH EDISON, NJ—Over the past week or so, GMC Hoops has been following the latest goings on with Wardlaw senior guard, Ryan Petela, who is the top returning player for the Rams this season. Coming into this week, Petela, who is currently averaging 23.4 points per game, needed only 46 more points to reach 1,000 for his career.
On Monday, Petela, who entered the season with 795 points, netted 28 points in a 62-48 Wardlaw loss to East Brunswick Tech in GMC Gold Division play. Petela will have two opportunities to achieve the accomplishment in front of Wardlaw’s fans in Laidlaw Gymnasium on Wednesday, January 9th versus Dunellen, and then against Perth Amboy Tech on Friday, January 11th. Petela leads the Rams in scoring while teammate Alvari Myha has chipped in with 15.5 points per game.
So far this season, Petela, a four year starter at Wardlaw-Hartridge, has tallied 187 points including 39 field goals, 16 three pointers, and 61 foul shots according to stats compiled by NJ.com. For his career to date, Petela has played in 75 games, made 125 field goals, 121 threes, and 204 points to average 11.8 points per game. He has scored 238 points as a freshman, 261 as a sophomore, and 321 points as a junior last year despite having an injury at one point during the season.
Petela has scored in double figures in 51 of his 75 games including 13 contests where he has tallied at least 20 points. Five of those 13 games have come this season alone with Petela scoring at least 27 points in four of those battles. In the one game GMC Hoops saw Wardlaw play so far this season, Petela notched 16 points including the go ahead score with 13 seconds left in a 41-40 loss to David Brearley of Kenilworth in the opening round of the 2019 Hopatcong Holiday Tourney in Sussex County on December 26th.
New head coach, Bernie Buniak, who previously coached in the GMC Gold at Dunellen, also guided two 1,000 point scorers in his tenure with the Destroyers in all time leading scorer, David Johnson (1,350 points) and Dylan Hoski (1,128 points). If and when Petela joins the 1,000 point club at Wardlaw, he will be the first Rams boys player to accomplish the feat since Justen Davis (1,271 points before attending Centenary College) did it in 2013, and the 10th Rams boys player all time.