Fast Start By Jayhawks Too Much For Rams To Overcome
SOUTH RIVER, NJ–After back to back seasons of 17 wins, a second place finish in the GMC Gold, and a trip to the Central Jersey Group I semifinals for the first time since the 2004-05 season, South River began to build for the 2014-15 campaign with action at the 2014 Raritan Bay Summer League on Tuesday night. Losing the likes of standout guard and 1,000 point scorer, Matt Martinez (Brookdale Community College) and Connor Devich, the Rams are losing some firepower.
However, Sean Darrar as well as Mario Nigro are returning while Antonio Martinez will be trying to fill some of the void left by his older brother. On this night, the Rams were taking on the Jayhawks, an AAU team that comprised of players from all around Central Jersey. The Jayhawks got off to a fast start by scoring the game’s first 10 points including two threes, and never looked back in a 48-33 victory. The Jayhawks led by as many as 17 points in the second half, and by 15 on a couple of occasions while South River couldn’t get closer than 10 points at 27-17 in the opening moments of the second half.
Nigro broke the early run by the Jayhawks, which included two threes, by hitting a three of his own at the 15:09 mark to close the gap to 10-3. The Jayhawks responded with the next five points including a three pointer and a layup for a 15-3 lead with 12:55 remaining in the opening half. The advantage grew to 15 at 24-9 after the Jayhawks scored 9 of the next 15 points including another trey at the 6:00 mark. Darrar netted a trey to get himself going for the Rams. South River then finished the half with a 5-3 run including a floater from the left side by Martinez for a 27-14 Jayhawks lead at the half.
The second half began with promise for the Rams as Nigro netted a three from the left side to close the gap to 10 points. However, the Jayhawks solidified their control over the contest by scoring 9 of the next 11 points over a 9 minute span for a 36-19 lead before Darrar netted two free throws to close the gap to 15 again midway through the second half. South River then put together its best run of the game by scoring 8 of the next 12 points over the enusing 4:59 to pull within 40-29 on a layup by Darrar before the Jayhawks called for time with a little bit more than five minutes remaining in the game.
South River was unable to get any closer as the Jayhawks finished the game on an 8-4 run including a steal for a layup by Noah Westbrook at the 1:20 mark, and another steal for a layup with 1:11 remaining to close out the 48-33 win.