Strong Third Quarter Showing Helps Rams Pull Away for Easy Win
| Timothy Christian’s Josh Decker fires up a three over the outstretched hand of Wardlaw’s John Pohopin in the 4th quarter. |
PISCATAWAY, NJ–In the nightcap game of the GMC Hoops Blue and Gold Division Doubleheader on Friday night, Wardlaw traveled over to the Timothy Christian School to take on the Tigers in a GMC Gold Division Clash. Â Earlier in the season, these two teams met in North Edison with Wardlaw winning, 52-36. Â Timothy Christian was looking to give more of a fight this time, and for a while it did before Wardlaw pulled away with a big third quarter.
Leading 31-19 at the half, Wardlaw-Hartridge essentially put the game out of reach with an 18-3 showing in the third quarter to take a commanding 49-22 lead, and cruised from there to a 65-36 victory. Â The win gave the Rams more wins already this season than they had all last season. Â Mike Newman led the Rams with a team high 21 points while teammate Nick Palko chipped in with 19 as the veteran duo combined to score 62 percent of Wardlaw’s points.
Josh Decker was a bright spot for the Tigers in defeat with a game high 23 points including five of his team’s six three pointers. Â Decker had four of those treys in the second half including three in the fourth quarter as he scored 16 of TCS’ last 17 points including 13 in the fourth. Â Freshman Mark Harris chipped in with 8 points in a losing cause for the Tigers. Â Wardlaw held a 19-8 advantage in two point field goals and an 8-4 edge in points scored from the foul line while TCS had an 18-15 edge in points scored from beyond the arc. Â Wardlaw outscored Timothy Christian in every period.
Seven different players got into the scorebook for Wardlaw while only three scored for TCS. Â Timothy Christian had a much more respectable fourth quarter thanks in large part to Decker. Â The Rams only outscored the Tigers by a 16-14 margin in the final frame. Â Decker scored almost all of TCS’ points in the period with three treys, a pull-up jumper, and a left handed layup while Mark Harris added a free throw. Â Meanwhile, Luke Romeo (9 points) knocked down a triple from the right wing for the Rams while Nick Palko added a pair of free throws at the 7:48 mark, and Newman added a couple scores. Â John Pohopin also added a layup in the frame.
GMC Hoops arrived after much of the damage had been done as Wardlaw led 46-22 with about 2:30 remaining in the third. Â The Rams then added a three pointer in the waning seconds for a 27 point advantage heading into the fourth. Â Wardlaw then opened up the fourth with the first 6 points including the two free throws by Palko, a bucket by Newman, and a layup by Pohopin for a 55-22 lead with about 6 minutes remaining. Â Then, TCS got going with Decker exchanging threes with Romeo as he hit two treys to make it a 58-28 Wardlaw lead at the 4:43 mark. Â The Rams then scored the next four points before Decker struck again for three to cut the deficit in half to 62-31.
TImothy Christian then closed the game on a 5-3 run as Decker hit his pull-up jumper and then scored on a layup from the left side while Harris added a free throw to make the score a bit more respectable. Â With the victory, Wardlaw improved to 5-7 overall on the season including a 4-5 mark in the GMC Gold. Meanwhile, Timothy Christian is still searching for its first win at 0-13 overall including an 0-10 mark in divisional play.