Eagles Start Out Fast and Never Look Back in Statement Win over Chargers
| Cardinal McCarrick’s Ralph Menar puts up a jumper in the 2nd half against Spotswood. |
SPOTSWOOD, NJ–Coming off a hard fought, come from behind victory at Carteret on Wednesday evening, the top ranked Cardinal McCarrick Eagles had another tough hill to climb when it traveled to the Spotswood Athletic Center on the campus of Spotswood High School on Friday night. These two teams had already met on opening night with the Chargers hanging tough on the road in South Amboy before the Eagles came away with a 49-37 win. Since that time, the Chargers had been playing very well before losing to another Blue Division foe, Bishop Ahr on the road last week. Spotswood then rebounded with a victory over Roselle on Monday in New Brunswick.
Prior to rallying to defeat Carteret on Wednesday, the Eagles had a layoff of 10 days. So, with McCarrick getting some hoops in before its game with Spotswood, you could have expected the Eagles to play much better. However, not many people expected the Eagles to play the way they did against the Chargers on Friday night. The Eagles dominated from start to finish by jumping out to a 13-0 lead, extending that advantage to 35-13 late in the second period, and holding Spotswood to just four points for much of the second half before the Charger reserves put in a 10-7 finish to the game in its final minutes to round out a 69-34 Cardinal McCarrick victory. The win keeps Cardy Mac undefeated and continues the school’s best start ever while matching the combined win total from the previous two seasons.
Gilberto Cue and NyQuan McCombs led the Eagles with a game high of 14 points while reserve Bryan Harris, who was recently activated and forward Hodari Bazemore chipped in with 10 points while Elijah Mitchell added 9. Marlon Hart led Spotswood in a losing cause with 7 points and 5 rebounds while big man Matt Ciaccio pitched in with 6 points and 8 boards. The Eagles played on all cylinders at both ends of the floor as they outscored Spotswood in each period including a 15-7 showing in the first, a 20-13 showing in the second, a 14-4 effort in the third, and a 20-10 performance in the fourth. McCarrick outscored Spotswood by an 18-6 margin from beyond the arc and held a 22-10 advantage in two point field goals while the Chargers had a slight edge in points from the foul line at 8-7.
The Eagles also enjoyed a 30-16 edge on the boards as Mitchell and Harris led the way with 9 and 7 rebounds respectively. Eight different players scored for McCarrick while 7 got in the books for Spotswood. Cardinal McCarrick got off to a fast start in this one with a 7-0 lead when GMC Hoops arrived. The Eagles then added six more points for a 13-0 lead before Spotswood finally got on the board. Santiago Dervishaj closed out the Eagles scoring with a putback with under three minutes to play in the frame while the Chargers got a three pointer from the left corner by Fuzesi and a layup from Eric Dadika (6 points) to close the gap to 15-7 at the end of one period. Spotswood was unable to get closer though as the Eagles opened the second on a 20-6 run as McCombs converted a three point play at the 7:27 mark for an 18-7 lead, and then he and Mitchell later added three pointers to give Cardy Mac a commanding 35-13 lead with three minutes left in the half.
Once again, Spotswood closed out the period on a strong note with the final 7 points including a three point play by Hart and a pair of free throws by Dadika to narrow the deficit to 35-20 at the break. With the normally raucous Spotswood student section in silence, McCarrick went back to work in the third by putting together a 14-4 showing that included a couple scores by Bazemore to increase the advantage to 49-24. Ciaccio got a bucket to account for one of the two scores in the frame by the Chargers. The Eagles then opened the final quarter with scores from Cue and McCombs to go up 53-24 before Spotswood called for time with 6:23 remaining in the contest. McCarrick eventually led by 38 points en route to winning the contest by 35.
With the victory, Cardinal McCarrick improved to 13-0 overall on the season including a 7-0 mark in the GMC Blue. Meanwhile, Spotswood fell to 9-3 including a 4-3 mark in divisional play.