More Balanced Attack Lifts Hilltoppers Into Championship Game
SUMMIT, NJ–At the start of its opening round holiday tourney game, there was plenty of optimism for the Raiders of Piscataway Tech. Â For the first three and a half minutes of the opening round game of the Hilltoppers Holiday Tournament against Summit, P-Way Tech head coach, Karl Towns, Sr. Â played his reserves and they battled the home team quite well, especially on the defensive end. Â
Although the Raiders only had two points during that stretch on a jumper from Mark Fychok, they only trailed 5-2. Â With the starters including standouts Jordan Lackey and Aziz Austin heading into the contest for the first time, there was plenty to be positive about. Â The optimism didn’t last long though. Â Following a bucket by the Raiders to draw within one at 5-4, Summit went on a key 6-0 run to take an 11-4 lead, and eventually finished the first quarter ahead 13-6.
From that point on, Summit controlled the contest as it outscored P-Way Tech by an 11-4 margin over the first 6:09 of the second to take a 24-10 advantage en route to a 27-13 halftime lead. Â The Raiders could only muster a slight 8-7 edge in the third period thanks in part to a three pointer by Inderpaul Pinghila, and a traditional three point play by Jordan Lackey, but a late three by Summit kept the Hilltoppers comfortably in front by a baker’s dozen. Â Summit led by as many as 18 points in the fourth before winning the contest 48-32.
The Hilltoppers had a more balanced attack with three players scoring in double figures. Â Rob Walsh and Mac Wiesner shared the game high with 13 points while teammate Matt Fischetti chipped in with 11 points. Â Pinghila led the Raiders in a losing cause with 12 points including two threes while Lackey chipped in with 11 points, but nobody else on P-Way Tech scored more than 3 points. Â Summit outscored the Raiders in three of the four periods, and 7 different players score. Â P-Way Tech, which was playing in its first game of the season, had 6 players get into the scorebook.
Summit had more two point field goals (13-11), and outscored P-Way Tech by a margin of 15-6 from three point range, and 7-4 from the foul line to get the win. Â The Hilltoppers opened the scoring by connecting on a three pointer before the Raiders called for a 30 second timeout at the 5:29 mark. Â Following the stoppage, Fychok got the ball off the inbounds in the P-Way Tech backcourt, dribbled up the left side of the court, and then to his right before knocking down a jumper from the left elbow to close the gap to 3-2. Â Summit would add another score before the Raiders reserves went to the bench a little more than midway through the first.
Piscataway Tech then drew within a point a 5-4 before Summit scored six straight over a span of about two minutes to take an 11-4 lead with 1:55 remaining in the opening frame. Â Both teams would exchange scores before the quarter ended with the Hilltoppers still leading by seven. Â Summit picked up right where it left off in the first by scoring 11 of the first 15 points of the second before Pinghila connected on the first of his two threes to close the gap to 24-13 with 1:30 left. Â Following a Summit timeout with 1:05 remaining in the half, the Hilltoppers got a three just before the buzzer to go back up by 14 heading into the intermission.
The third period was the lowest scoring quarter of the game with the Raiders getting an 8-7 edge. Â P-Way Tech scored the first five points of the second half including another three by Pinghila to narrow the deficit to 27-18. Â Summit would score the next three points to go up by a dozen, but then Lackey responded with a conventional three point play to narrow the deficit to 30-21. Â Unfortunately, the Raiders would get no closer for the rest of the game as Summit scored the final four points of the third including another three pointer in the final minute of the period. Â The Hilltoppers then opened the fourth with 5 of the first 8 points including a tip-in right before Piscataway Tech called for time at the 5:53 mark trailing, 39-24.
Summit, which improved to 3-0 on the season with the win, then scored 9 of the next 15 points for its largest lead of the game before the Raiders got their final points of the game on a layup with less than a minute and a half to go. Â The Hilltoppers will now face Morristown in the Championship Game on Saturday night at 7:00 PM. Â The Colonials reached the final thanks to a 69-55 victory over Watchung Hills. Â Sean Hoehn led the way with 30 points in the win. Â Piscataway Tech, which was playing its season opener and fell to 0-1 on the season, will face Watchung Hills in the consolation on Saturday afternoon at 4:00 PM.