Backcourt Tandem Strikes In Final 30 Seconds To Lift Rams Past Raiders, 49-48
SOUTH RIVER, NJ–On Monday night, GMC Hoops headed over to South River High School after work to see the Rams in action against Piscataway Tech in an evening pre-season scrimmage. Â It was actually our first official visit to the new gym at South River, which looked very nice. Â The varsity exhibition between the Rams and Raiders was quite a good one from the last four and a half minutes that we were able to see.
Piscataway Tech led 39-36 when I arrived in the gym, and led 44-38 with 1:40 to go before Matt Martinez fired in a three, and South River got another score to pull within one at 44-43. Â The Raiders then got a couple scores including a bucket by Jordan Lackey to take a 48-43 lead with 54 seconds still left on the clock. Â Not giving up though, the Rams rallied with the final six points on two three pointers in the final 30 seconds to get the overall scrimmage edge, 49-48.
Sean Darrar, who helped South River overcome a seven point deficit to Keansburg in the final minute and a half of regulation, and then hit the game winning three  in overtime last year in the Championship Game of the Genevieve Hawley Tournament at Henry Hudson High School, sparked the come from behind rally with a trey from the right wing with about 30 seconds left to pull the Rams within two at 48-46.  Then, after Piscataway Tech drew a foul, and missed the front end of a one and one with six seconds left, Martinez took an outlet pass, dribbled up the right side of the floor, and then fired in a three that got a kind bounce as time expired for the one point win.
In the JV scrimmage, which was held afterwards, South River earned a 9-8 edge in a back and forth first quarter. Â Then, the Junior Rams and Junior Raiders exchanged leads before Piscataway Tech closed the second period, and the scrimmage with an 8-0 run that turned an 11-10 deficit into an 18-11 edge in the scrimmage. Â So the scrimmage was a split with South River’s varsity winning its exhibition by one, and Piscataway Tech’s JV getting the edge in its exhibition. Â Hard to gauge both the varsity squads from the limited action that I was able to see. Â Unfortunately, I had to work until 6:30 PM on Monday, and didn’t get over to the gym with under five minutes remaining in the varsity scrimmage.
However, there is one thing that I came away with from Monday’s scrimmage, and that is South River’s backcourt tandem of Martinez and Darrar will have the Rams in a lot of games this year. Â Their ability to knock down threes as well as handle the ball, and dictate tempo will help South River overcome the losses of one thousand point scorer Tyler Harris, who is now playing at Centenary, and Tim Darrar, who is now at Middlesex County College. Â The Rams will play their typical 94 feet of heat as head coach, Rodney Harris calls it. Â Throughout the four or five minutes seen in this scrimmage, South River put on fullcourt pressure, and tried to keep things up-tempo. Â Some people in town feel that this will be a down year for the Rams, but I don’t agree.
As long as the Rams get stellar guard play, especially late in games from Martinez and Darrar, they will have a fighting chance, especially in a Gold Division that is wide open for about four or five teams. Â You could even say Wardlaw could also pose a problem with the combination of John Pohopin, Mike Newman, Mike Anastasiou, Ish Menns, and Shareef Ibraheem. Â Those Rams battled South Plainfield quite well, especially in the second half. Â Timothy Christian also played well in its scrimmage with Perth Amboy and J.P. Stevens. Â Moving on to Piscataway Tech, Aziz Austin and Lackey both return from a squad that finished third in divisional play last season. Â The Raiders also have Ali Austin, Inderpaul Pinghila, Andrew Franco, and Frank Howard on the squad this year.
Franco and Lackey were teammates as freshmen at South Plainfield. Â Both were on a SPHS frosh roster that finished second in the 2011 Perth Amboy/GMC Freshmen Tournament. Â The Raiders do have some big shoes to fill with the departure of 1,000 point scorer Turell McClendon, who graduated last June. Â Lackey will most likely take on a good deal of the burden along with Aziz Austin. Â Austin has a knack of knocking down the big shot like he did in the final minute of a win on the road at Carteret during the first week of January 2013. Â Expect the Raiders to be in the hunt for the GMC Blue Division title, but they are going to have to fight through the likes of Spotswood, Carteret, Bishop Ahr, and improved squads from J.F. Kennedy, Metuchen, and South Plainfield.