Tigers Pull Off Huge Upset Of Piscataway Tech To Get A Share Of 1st In Gold Division
PISCATAWAY, NJ–Honestly, coming into this game, I didn’t think Timothy Christian was going to pull off the upset of Piscataway Tech. As a matter of fact, I was wondering if they were going to be able to keep it close at halftime and by the end third quarter. I had seen the two teams play back in December, and while the Tigers kept the game close at the half (only trailed 14-11), the Raiders shut them down in the second half, particularly the fourth quarter en route to a 46-25 win at TCS.
Now, you are going on the road, and taking on a team with aspirations to make noise in the upcoming GMCT. Throw in the fact that your top scorer doesn’t hit his first field goal until the second quarter, and his only three until the third quarter while your second leading scorer ends up with just 10 points, and you have a tough time winning against the Raiders. However, the Tigers hung around. Piscataway Tech couldn’t put them away. The Raiders missed layups, threw passes away, and traveled going to the basket. The Tigers also drew two charges to prevent two other scores.
Timothy Christian also did a superb job defensively in the second half. After scoring 14 points in the first half, transfer Will Joyce only had four in the final two periods. Galen Smith ended up with 16 points, scoring eight in each half, but after netting two threes in the first half, he had none in the second half. Top scorer from last year, Turell McClendon, was limited to just 6 points himself. Tafari Kerr had 11 boards, but only 3 points. Chris Hobbs did a great job again of managing the game with key timeouts, and getting his kids to go right after it from the opening tip.
On offense, Brandon Summers was huge for TCS. The sophomore connected on 7 of 8 shots according to the Star-Ledger, and ended up with a career high 18 points. Summers scored 12 of his 18 points in the second half, but those six in the first half were very important as well. He scored four in the first quarter to help the Tigers tie the Raiders at 10-10. Summers scored six in the fourth including a go ahead jumper at the 1:45 mark. His ability to take people to the basket with his size has proven to be a key weapon for the Tigers.
In a 59-51 victory at Dunellen on January 11th, Summers scored eight points including six in the third quarter. Four of those points came off short jump hooks as he took his smaller defender to the hole. Since losing to P-Way Tech back on December 21st, the Tigers have won 11 straight, and are 14-1 including a 9-1 mark in the GMC Gold for a first place tie. It should be a good finish to this year’s Gold Division race. Both the Raiders and the Tigers still have a few games to play in the division including a matchup against third place Dunellen. The Raiders travel to the Faber on Friday afternoon while the Tigers host DHS on February 3rd.
Regardless of which team takes the division, both of these squads will be formidable opponents in the upcoming GMCT. Timothy Christian is also getting better battle tested ahead of the tourney with games against Bishop Ahr on Monday and Carteret on February 6th.