Braves 10-0 Spurt Midway Through Second Half Keys Victory
MONROE, NJ–After winning its opening night game on Tuesday over Allentown, the Monroe Falcons were back in action in the opener of the Thursday night tripleheader at the 2014 Monroe Sports Center.  This time, the Purple Birds were taking on the Manalapan Braves.  With a solid incoming senior class led by the likes of  Tyler Salzer returning next year, and a very talented incoming sophomore class, which as freshmen, reached the quarterfinal round of the 2014 Perth Amboy Freshmen Tournament, Monroe will be looking to contend again in the GMC White.
The squad that competed in the game against Manalapan on Thursday night had some good moments, especially early on, but the depth and trapping defense of the Braves produced a lot of turnovers, wore down the Falcons, and made the MTHS offense look out of sync. Â As a result, Manalapan turned an early 10-4 deficit into a 41-27 victory. Â Keying the 37-17 surge over the last 30:48 of the contest was a pivotal 10-0 spurt over a 6:24 span of the second that gave Braves control of the game for good after Monroe had taken a 24-23 lead on a three pointer at the 13:02 mark.
Salzer and soon to be junior, Eddie Pinto were the bright spots for the Falcons. Â Pinto scored 6 points early on, and added a bucket to start the second half while Salzer scored the final four points of the first half including a jumper at the 3:45 mark, and a layup with 29 seconds left that helped the Falcons stay ahead. Â Then, in the second half, Â Salzer converted a three point play with 4:29 to play to end a scoreless drought of 8:33, and close the gap to 33-27. Â The talented crop of incoming sophomores that saw action in this game for Monroe had some moments of brilliance in the first half, but struggled a great deal against Manalapan’s defense by committing numerous turnovers.
The game started out well for Monroe with the Falcons jumping out to an 8-4 lead over the initial 8:15 thanks to the efforts of Pinto, who scored on several layups. Â The Falcons then drew a foul, and got two free throws at the 10:48 mark for a six points. Â However, Manalapan took advantage of Monroe’s reserves, which saw action after the promising start. Â The Braves began to gradually chip away at the lead by forcing turnovers off the trap and double teams, and put together a 6-2 spurt over a span of 7:03 before Salzer netted a jumper from the left elbow for a 14-10 lead at the 3:45 mark. Â Manalapan continued to claw back into the matchup with four more unanswered points to tie the game at 14-14 with under two minutes to play.
Neither team would break the deadlock until the Falcons found Salzer cutting through the paint to the right low block for a layup and a 16-14 lead with 29 seconds to play in the first half. Â Manalapan would manage to knot the game again at 16-16 going into the intermission thanks to a drive from the right side for a layup that got a kind roll with 3 seconds left. Â The second half picked up right where the first half left off with both teams scratching and clawing for scores and trying to take control. Â Pinto opened up the half with a layup off a drive through the middle for an 18-16 Monroe lead, but the Braves answered with a three pointer from the left side at the 18:30 mark for a 19-18 edge. Â The two teams continued to exchange leads until Monroe capped a 6-4 run with a trey from the right wing at the 13:02 mark for a 24-23 lead.
Monroe would not hold the lead for much longer after that as Manalapan put together 10 unanswered points that was highlighted by layups off steals, and putbacks off offensive boards to take command of the contest. Â The Falcons were either getting trapped in the corners along the baseline, and having the ball taken away from them, or Manalapan was anticipating the pass coming back out of the corner to the point, and swiping steals off that. Â Salzer’s conventional three point play with under four and a half minutes to play in the game seemed to have stemmed the tide, and put the Falcons within striking distance again at 33-27, but the Braves ended the game with an 8-0 spurt including layups at the 1:59 and 1:05 marks to wrap up the 41-27 win.
With the victory, Manalapan starts the summer at 1-0 while Monroe falls to 1-1. Â Both teams will be back in action next week as the Braves have two games including a contest against Robbinsville on Tuesday, July 1st at 8:05 PM, and one on Thursday, July 3rd versus South Brunswick at 8:50 PM. Â Monroe will be off on Tuesday before returning to action again on Thursday against Allentown again at 8:30 PM.