Key Runs in First and Second Halves Propel Irish to Victory
WEST WINDSOR, NJ–South Brunswick turned in a solid day at the 2014 Summer Prime Time Shootout at West Windsor-Plainsboro South High School. Â After defeating a Jackson Memorial (57-56) squad that went on to defeat Union Catholic later in the day, the Vikings took it to the Irish of Notre Dame with solid play for 25 of the 40 minutes played. Â During that stretch, South Brunswick outscored Notre Dame by a margin of 53-31. Â However, two key spurts by the Irish helped them earn the hard fought win.
The two spurts, an 18-5 tear towards the end of the first half, and a 19-3 surge to end the game gave Notre Dame a 37-8 edge over a span of 15:27. Â Scoring 19 of the last 22 points of the game, the Irish turned a 58-49 deficit with 9:15 to play into a 68-61 victory. Â Notre Dame also won its second game with a 55-50 victory over William Allen of Pennsylvania. Â The Irish limited South Brunswick to no field goals over the last nine plus minutes of the game. Â The Vikings could only muster two free throws from Jack Engel with five minutes left, and one of two foul shots by Jaier Garrett with 34.5 seconds to play.
Engel and Garrett did plenty of damage for the Vikes. Â With Garrett driving to the basket and Engel firing in shots from the perimeter, South Brunswick was able to give Notre Dame all it could handle. Â Engel and Garrett each scored 10 points in the first half and Sean Nally added 5 to pace the Vikings. Â Greg Lee netted 8 points in the second half including three pointers from the left and right wings to tie the game at 41-41 with 17 minutes remaining. Â Lee then added a score later along with Tavian Alford as the Vikings took a 58-49 lead with 9:15 left. Â Notre Dame, which jumped out to a 6-3 lead, and led 10-5 early, fell behind thanks to a 14-4 South Brunswick tear over a 4:57 span that included 8 points and two assists from Garrett for a 19-14 lead with 10:29 left in the first half.
The Irish would rebound though and retook the lead thanks to scoring 18 of the next 23 points over a 6:12 span. Â Reserve big man, Darren James sparked the rally with a score from the left low block at the 9:52 mark, and a putback at the 7:23 mark for a 23-22 lead. Â Notre Dame continued to roll by scoring 9 of the next 11 points over a span of 3:06 including a bank shot from the right side, and a three pointer for a 32-24 lead at the 4:17 mark. Â Engel accounted for the only Viking points during the stretch with two free throws. Â South Brunswick battled back though with an 11-4 spurt to end the half. Â The Vikes scored 7 of 9 points over a span of 1:17 including a reverse layup by Engel at the 3:00 mark.
SBHS then scored 4 of the last 6 points of the first half including a floater by Garrett as he was fouled at the 1:24 mark, and then a buzzer beating jumper from the right baseline by Sean Nally for a 36-35 Notre Dame lead at the intermission. Â The Irish then opened the first half with the first five points, but the Vikings rallied to tie the score at 41-41 with 17 minutes to go in the game on back to back threes by Lee. Â Notre Dame retook the lead with a score at the 16:29 mark, but South Brunswick seemingly took control of the contest with a 17-6 tear over a span of 7:14 for a 58-49 lead. Â Highlighting the run for the Vikes were layups by Lee and Alford. Â Notre Dame would clamp down on defense the rest of the way to turn the tide.
Trailing by nine, Notre Dame went into overdrive thanks to the combination of solid defense and great offensive rebounding. Â Capping an 8-0 spurt over a 3:25 span was a sequence where the Irish grabbed several offensive boards before putting in a putback at the 5:32 mark for a 58-57 South Brunswick lead. Â After Engel netted two foul shots for a 60-57 lead with 5:00 left, ND scored 11 unanswered points over a span of four minutes including two putbacks at the 3:00 and 2:28 marks, a layup at the two minute mark, and a three pointer with 55.8 seconds remaining to put the game away. Â South Brunswick wraps up its play against Ridge at 7:00 PM and West Windsor-Plainsboro North at 9:00 PM on Saturday while Notre Dame returns to action on Sunday with a game against Rancocas Valley at 5:00 PM and a contest versus Union Catholic at 7:00 PM.
DID YOU KNOW? Â Notre Dame’s Darren James played at South Brunswick when he was a freshman, and led the Vikings frosh squad to the quarterfinals of the 2012 Perth Amboy/GMC Freshmen Tournament Quarterfinals where they lost to Monroe. Â Ryan Turco, the son of ND head coach, Bob Turco was in the starting lineup for the Irish. Â Joe Hoehman served as Freshmen hoops coach at SBHS when Notre Dame head coach, Bob Turco was a varsity assistant to Dave Turco when the two coached at SBHS from 2002 to 2005.