Late Second Half Tear Lifts Vikings Past Chargers
MONROE, NJ–In the second game of the GMC Hoops Doubleheader at the 2014 Monroe Sports Center Fall League on Monday night, two GMC teams went at it as Spotswood took on South Brunswick. In another well played contest, the Chargers, which had been playing better as of late, gave the Vikings all they could handle. Eric Dadika was lighting it up from the perimeter, Marlon Hart was attacking the basket, Matt Ciaccio was patrolling the paint and running the floor well, and the Spotswood supporting cast led by senior Eugene Anderson did what they could to pitch in. Keep this in mind too, the Chargers were playing without the likes of J.T. Vento, who recently hurt his ankle in the first half of a win over Middletown South, and freshman Chris Pina. South Brunswick, which was also shorthanded somewhat, still found a way to win.
Trailing 55-53 with eight minutes remaining, the Vikings went on a decisive 13-2 spurt for a 66-57 lead as junior Danesh Thirukmaran connected on a couple three pointers, Eric Savage and Jack Engel attacked the basket for scores and went to the line for more points, and Tyjuan Dugger added a score as well as a key offensive rebound that led to one of Thirukmaran’s threes. From there, the Chargers could only get as close as five points the rest of the way as South Brunswick won by the score of 71-65. Dadika was on fire in the first half with several threes including one at the buzzer to trim the deficit to ten at 40-30 going into the intermission. The junior guard, and younger brother of Rutgers walk-on and Spotswood all time leading scorer, Jake Dadika, opened the scoring with a drive to the hoop for a layup.
Spotswood then added a three pointer for a 5-0 lead before the Vikes got going with the next four points including a basket by Jack Engel to close the gap to one before Dadika scored on a layup again at the 17:43 mark for a 7-4 lead. Sophomore Mike Ugarte then tied the game up at 7-7 for the Vikings with a three pointer from the left wing at the 17:10 mark. The game went back and forth for a bit with the two teams exchanging leads. Highlighting this stretch was a score by Engel for a 15-13 lead with about 13 minutes remaining in the half, then a three by Dadika from the right wing at the 12:40 mark for a 16-15 edge, and then two free throws by Engel at the 11:35 mark for a 17-16 lead. After a Spotswood timeout at the 10:58 mark, the Chargers went back out in front with a score, but Savage drove to the hoop at the other end, and banked in a floater for a 19-18 lead with 9:45 to go in the half.
The lead continued to change hands as Matt Ciaccio put the Chargers back in front again at 20-19 by powering to the basket from the left low block at the 9:03 mark. South Brunswick then scored the next five points including a three pointer and a pull-up jumper by Ugarte to take a 24-20 lead with 7:17 left in the half. Dadika kept the Chargers within striking distance by knocking down a three from the right corner at the 6:49 mark for a 24-23 South Brunswick edge. The Vikings then put together a 16-4 tear over a span of 6:44 to take a 40-27 lead. Highlighting the run was a putback by Dugger, a pull-up jumper in the paint by Ugarte and a drive from the right wing for a layup by Dugger with just seconds remaining. Dadika then ended the first half scoring by pulling up from way beyond the arc on the right side of the floor for a three that closed the gap to 10 at the break.
The three by Dadika sparked an 11-2 tear to end the first half and begin the second for the Chargers. Hart and Ciaccio opened the half with scores to add to the run as Spotswood pulled within single digits. However, South Brunswick was able to stay ahead with a bit of a cushion as Engel converted a three point play at the 15:38 mark for a 45-38 lead. Dadika sparked another run by the Chargers as he got a bucket at the 14:14 mark to help put them ahead by one. The Vikings responded with the next 8 points including a three from the left wing by Engel at the 12:30 mark, and a floater by Savage at the 11:44 mark for a 53-46 lead. Over the next 3:44, Spotswood responded with a 9-0 run including a putback by Ciaccio at the 9:25 mark, a layup by Hart, and a three pointer for a 55-53 lead.
However, the Chargers lead was short lived. A little over a minute later, Thirukmaran fired in a three pointer from the left wing for a 56-55 lead. Then, the Vikings scored 5 of the next 7 points incuding a layup by Dugger at the five minute mark for a 61-57 lead. Nearly two minutes went by before Thirukmaran netted another trey from the right wing at the 3:16 mark for a 64-57 lead. Savage then capped the pivotal 13-2 spurt with a driving layup at the 2:57 mark for a 66-57 lead. After Spotswood got a bucket to pull within seven again, Ugarte took a pass from Savage on the right wing, and went to his left through the paint and scored on a layup at the 1:20 mark for a 68-59 lead. The Chargers scored 6 of the next 8 points including a drive for a layup by Dadika with 1:06 left, but couldn’t get any closer as South Brunswick came away with a six point victory.
With the victory, South Brunswick improved to 6-1 on the fall, and will have a bye this week before finishing its season on November 13th with an 8:55 PM game against Howell on the MSC Yellow Court. Meanwhile, Spotswood had a three game losing streak snapped, and dropped to 3-3 with the loss. The Chargers will play next on Thursday, November 6th against West Windsor-Plainsboro South at 8:55 PM on the MSC Red Court.