Tatie and Seraji Lead Bombers to Season Sweep of Barrons
WOODBRIDGE, NJ–The Sayreville Bombers continue to roll in 2013-14. So far this season, Sayreville has not lost a game in the GMC, and hasn’t lost yet in 2014. After defeating Woodbridge for the second time this season with a 62-53 victory at WHS on Tuesday night, the third ranked Bombers have now won 11 straight games, and are looking to make a run at top ranked St. Joseph’s and second ranked East Brunswick.
Woodbridge gave much more of a fight this time around after losing to Sayreville at the Bomb Shelter, 72-48 on January 4th. Led by freshman, Quassim Glover, who scored a team high 17 points, and 13 first half points by junior Zahneer Shuler, the Barrons only trailed 38-31 at the half, and were within single digits on a number of occasions in the second half, but couldn’t get any closer than 6 points. Sayreville was led by senior guard, Corey Taite, who crept within 5 points of 1,000 for his career with a game high 25 points while fellow senior, Rob Seraji chipped in with 16 for the winners.
Taite scored 10 of his points in the fourth quarter when Sayreville led by as many as 10 points late. Taite buried a three pointer, was fouled as he scored a layup for a three point play, made two more free throws, and got a breakaway layup. Brian Gay chipped in with two late free throws to help shape the final margin of victory. Behind scoring from Glover and Josh Oloweekere (9 points), who had a three and a layup in the fourth, the Barrons were able to open the final frame with a 5-1 run to pull within six at 50-44, but then Taite fired in a three pointer with exactly six minutes left, and then followed that with a conventional three point play to key a crucial 7-1 run that put Sayreville up 57-45 before Oloweekere hit his trey with 3:53 left to close the gap to nine.
Seraji started out hot in the first half with 14 of his 16 points including four threes. The senior guard, made three of his trifectas in the first period while Taite added one of his own to pace Sayreville out to an 18-14 lead. Taite then took over in the second with three of his five treys in the game while also going a perfect 4 of 4 from the line to help the Bombers gain a 20-17 edge in the frame for a seven point, 38-31 lead at the half. Seraji chipped in with another three and a field goal for five more in the period. Shuler, who only scored three in the first period, came up with 10 in the second including two threes to help Woodbridge stay within striking distance at the intermission. The third quarter again went to Sayreville with a slight 11-8 edge.
The Bombers came out fast to start the second half with 7 of the first 9 points thanks to senior guard and football standout, Malik Pressley (9 points), who drained a three to open the second half scoring, and then was fouled as he hit another trey from almost the same exact spot on the right wing for a four point play, and a 45-33 lead midway through the third. Woodbridge, which had four different players score in the period, got the next four points over about a two minute span to narrow the deficit to 45-37 as Sayreville called for time with 2:05 remaining in the third. The Bombers then closed out the stanza with 4 of the last 6 points including a off balance heave from the left wing by Gay with time running out for a 49-39 lead heading into the fourth.
Sayreville ended up outscoring Woodbridge in each of the first three quarters before the Barrons earned a 14-13 edge in the fourth despite Taite’s heroics. The Bombers had six different players get into the scorebook while Woodbridge had seven different players score. Both teams had two players score in double figures and combined for 16 three pointers in the game. The Bombers had the lion’s share of the treys though as they outscored the Barrons by a 30-18 margin from beyond the arc. Sayreville also edged Woodbridge at the foul line by a 10-9 margin. The Barrons had more two point field goals though with a 13-11 edge. With the victory, Sayreville improves to 13-2 overall including an 11-0 mark in conference, and a 9-0 mark in White Division play. Woodbridge slipped to 7-7 overall including a 6-6 mark in the GMC, and a 4-4 record in divisional play.