Bound Brook Summer League–July 26, 2011

Piscataway Advances To Championship Game By Downing Top Seeded Bound Brook, 50-31

BOUND BROOK, NJ–On Tuesday afternoon, the semifinal round of the playoffs in the 2011 Bound Brook Summer League took place at Bound Brook High School.  The first of the two final four matchups involved the lone remaining team from the Greater Middlesex Conference as fourth seeded Piscataway took on top seeded Bound Brook in the 5:45 PM game.

The Chiefs earned the trip to the semis with a 52-32 victory over neighborhood rival, and fifth seeded New Brunswick in the opening round of the playoffs while Bound Brook, which only had one loss during the regular season, rolled past eighth seeded Somerset Tech by the score of 75-25.  

Piscataway, which will also be playing in the second Kean Ironman Challenge this summer later in the week, had seven players available for this game while Bound Brook had six.  The winner of the contest would advance to the Championship on Thursday against the winner of the other semifinal between third seeded Somerville and second seeded Hunterdon Central.

After having a bit of a sluggish start offensively, the Chiefs used their defense to put together a 17-5 tear over the final 6:16 of the first half for a 24-8 lead, and then put the game away with a 26-17 run over the first 15:25 of the second half to lead by 25 with a little over four and a half minutes remaining before Bound Brook ended the game with the final six points for the 50-31 Piscataway win.

For the game, P-Way tallied up its 50 points on 22 field goals including three treys, and only 3 of 4 from the line.  The Chiefs had 24 points in the first half, and 26 in the second half.  Bound Brook compiled its 31 points on 12 field goals including a three pointer and 6 of 10 shooting from the foul line.  The Chiefs outscored the Crusaders by a 9-3 margin in points scored from beyond the arc.  Piscataway also had more second chance points (7-4), and points off of turnovers (20-2).  P-Way held a 7-3 edge in blocked shots, and a 15-2 advantage in steals.

The Chiefs had a balanced attack that led to the win.  Greg Davis led the way with 11 points on four field goals including a thre while making both his attempts from the foul line.  The soon to be senior also had three steals, an assist, and a block.  Marcus Freeney chipped in with 10 points on four field goals including two threes while also picking up three steals and an assist.  David White turned in another solid effort with  8 points on four field goals along with 8 steals and two deflections.

Donovan Kirkland also added 8 points on four field goals along with four offensive rebounds, a block, and an assist.  Jelani Jackson contributed with 6 points on three field goals, two steals, and an assist.  Tyjohn Young led the way for Bound Brook against his former teammates with 10 points on three field goals along with 4 of 5 from the foul line.  Young also added a blocked shot.  Both teams played the contest shorthanded.  

Bound Brook was playing without Kyle Capalbo and Hamilton Capellan among others.  Piscataway was without the likes of Vik Singh, Tajae Sharpe, and Temi Adebayo.  Both teams struggled a bit offensively early on.  The Crusaders took the lead on a score off a partial block by the Chiefs at the 18:04 mark.  Piscataway responded with three field goals and a foul shot  over the next 7:02 to take a 7-2 lead.  Jelani Jackson, David White, and Donovan Kirkland all had baskets during the run.

White was particularly active on the defensive end early on.  During the Chiefs fast start, the soon to be senior guard, had three steals and a deflection along with his layup to spearhead the P-Way defensive effort.  Bound Brook didn’t score a point for 8:32 before drawing a foul for one of two free throws, and a 7-3 Piscataway lead at the 9:32 mark.  The Chiefs were still in a bit of a funk offensively though, and didn’t really get going until the last six plus minutes of the first half.

Piscataway went scoreless for a span of 4:46 before Greg Davis made a nice inbounds pass to Kirkland for a layup, and a 9-3 lead at the 6:16 mark. The Chiefs then went into another scoring drought of 2:44 until Marcus Freeney fired in a jumper from the right wing for an 11-3 lead.  By this point, the Chiefs were ratcheting up the defensive pressure on the Crusaders, and Freeney followed up his score with a steal off the ensuing inbounds, and dished to Davis for a layup, and a 13-3 lead at the 3:26 mark.

After a Bound Brook score off a putback at the 3:04 mark, the Chiefs got more offense from Freeney as he rattled in a three from the right wing for a 16-5 lead with 2:29 left in the opening half.  Moments later, White poked away another steal that led to a layup by Jackson for an 18-5 lead at the 2:15 mark.  The Chiefs were never really threatened after that.

After Young converted a traditional three point play at the 1:12 mark to close the gap to 18-8, the Chiefs scored the last six points including a Davis layup off a nice dish by Jackson at the 41 second mark, a steal for a layup with 25 seconds left, and then a steal for a layup by White to cap the burst for a 24-8 lead at the intermission.  

In the first half, the Chiefs limited Bound Brook to just three field goals and  2 of 3 from the foul line.  Meanwhile, P-Way had five players with at least four points, and had 11 field goals including a three pointer while making one of two from the foul line.  Piscataway also scored 12 points off of turnovers in the half.  Eight of those Crusader turnovers were P-Way steals, and the Chiefs also blocked three shots.

Freeney led the Chiefs with 5 points in the first half while Davis, Jackson, White, and Kirkland each chipped in with 4 points each.  Young had four points for The Brook in the opening half.  Things didn’t get much better for Bound Brook in the second half either.  Although the Crusaders were able to muster up some more offense, it wasn’t enough to catch up to P-Way, which had 11 more field goals including two threes along with a perfect 2 of 2 from the line.

Davis led the way with 7 points in the second half while Freeney added another five and both White and Kirkland chipped in with four more points.  Young scored 6 points in the final 20 minutes of action for Bound Brook, which had 9 field goals including a three in the second half along with 4 of 8 from the foul line.  The game was tied for only the first 1:56 while Bound Brook actually led for 1:01, but the Chiefs led for the rest of the contest.

With the victory, Piscataway improved to 8-2 overall on the summer at Bound Brook while the Crusaders ended up the summer at 8-2.  The Chiefs advanced to play second seeded Hunterdon Central in the Championship on Thursday at 6:45 PM.  The Red Devils earned their way to the title game with a 55-47 victory over third seeded Somerville in the other semifinal.