NORTH BRUNSWICK, NJ–On Friday afternoon, I traveled down to North Brunswick High School to take in the game between the Raiders and the New Brunswick Zebras. NBTHS was coming off a loss in overtime to Carteret (71-65) while the Zebras were coming off a defeat at the hands of Sayreville (66-52). Read details and analysis as well as see video of the contest between the Bombers and the Zebras in the summaries section as well as the blog.
The first thing that caught my attention right away was the site of New Brunswick’s junior forward, Jaquan Cook, in crutches. I learned later via the Middlesex County boys basketball blog on NJ.com that New Brunswick’s leading scorer and rebounder suffered a contusion to his left foot in the loss to Sayreville. The injury should only keep him out a week. Although New Brunswick lost some size, and a good deal of scoring with Cook out, it still managed to come up with a big win on the road against neighborhood and division rival, North Brunswick. The Zebras, which lost to the Raiders 60-59 on a last second shot by Mark Gibson on December 21st, overcame a 42-40 third quarter deficit with a 17-14 showing in the final period for the 57-56 win. Read details in the summary on the game.
Sophomore forward, Milton Pittman, stepped up for the Zebras as he scored a team high 17 points on 5 of 10 shooting from the floor, and a perfect 7 of 7 from the line while also collecting 6 rebounds, 4 steals, and a block. Nigel Scott, who scored 11 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter of the loss to Sayreville, chipped in with 14 points, 4 rebounds, an assist, and a steal while Simuel Williams added 13 points, 7 rebounds, 3 steals, an assist, and a block. Dion Rogers led North Brunswick in defeat with a game high 20 points including 4 of 6 from three point range while also picking up 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals.
The Zebras, which improved to 9-6 overall on the season, and 5-4 in the GMC White, won its ninth game in 12 outings after starting the season at 0-3. Meanwhile, the Raiders, which began 2009-10 with a 5-1 record, has now lost six of its last eight. However, the two teams came together for one of the best games in the GMC this season. Both teams combined for 20 lead changes and 9 ties while neither had a lead bigger than four points. New Brunswick won the first and last periods with 17-14 edges while North Brunswick won the second with a 16-11 showing. The third ended in a 12-12 tie, which was thanks in part to another last second three pointer to end a quarter by Rogers (performed the same feat in the loss to East Brunswick in the opening round of the Brunswick Classic).
The Zebras showed me something with this victory. Pittman, Williams, and Scott all stepped up to fill the void left behind by Cook while Fuquan Rogers (4 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and a steal), Troy Wilcox (5 points, 3 rebounds, an assist, and a steal), and T.J. Overtree (4 points and 4 rebounds) did their part to make key contributions along the way. NBHS did a superb job of taking care of the basketball by committing only 15 turnovers while forcing 20 miscues by North Brunswick. Despite being outrebounded 39-30 including a 17-12 edge on the offensive glass, the Zebras kept pace with the Raiders, and in the end, overtook them. To win on the road against a rival without your top player can do a world of good for a team’s confidence going into the rest of the season’s schedule.