Robertson Scores Eight in Fourth Quarter Comeback
| Carteret’s Jaquan Robertson pictured here hitting a three against Metuchen, scored 15 of his 19 points in 2nd half. |
NORTH EDISON, NJ–The Carteret Ramblers could be peaking at the right time. Â With the 2015 Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament on the horizon, the sixth ranked Ramblers coming off a huge win on the road at Woodbridge last Saturday was looking to win its sixth straight game since losing a hearbreaker at home to top ranked Cardinal McCarrick on January 21st. Â In their way was a Bishop Ahr team that has been up and down this season. Â The two schools went at it in a game broadcasted live on WCTC AM 1450 on Wednesday night.
Trailing 14-4 early in the second quarter, Carteret scored 15 of the last 17 points of the first half to take a 19-16 lead. Â Then, after Ahr rallied with a 16-10 showing in the third for a 32-29 lead, and led by as many as five in the fourth quarter, Carteret battled back by scoring the last 10 points of the contest for a 40-35 victory. Â Jaquan Robertson, who scored a game high 19 points, collected 15 of those points in the second half including eight during the pivotal fourth quarter rally. Â Robertson, who broke through the 1,300 point barrier for his career at CHS with his performance, got a layup with 23 seconds left for a 38-35 lead, and then sealed the victory by making two free throws with two seconds to play.
Fellow senior Brandon Gilder chipped in by scoring 9 points including six in the first half. Â Jemar Jordan added 5 including a highlight reel putback dunk in the second quarter, and one of two from the line with a minute to play that gave the Ramblers the lead for good at 36-35. Â Vince Montgomery added 4 points while Amir Alford had a second quarter three for his only points of the game. Â Leading Bishop Ahr in defeat was Tom Weiler, who fired in a team high 14 points. Â Pat Astarita chipped in with 9 points while Anthony Abano added 8 points including two threes in the second half. Â Harry Gelpke helped round out the Ahr scoring with two points. Â Each team outscored the other in two of the four quarters played. Â Carteret had five different players score while BGA just had 4. Â The Trojans had three of its players score 8 points or more while the Ramblers only had two.
Bishop Ahr enjoyed a 14-13 edge in two point field goals made, but Carteret outscored the Trojans by a 12-6 margin from beyond the arc, and had a 4-1 edge in points scored from the foul line. Â The BGA started the game strong with a 12-2 first quarter showing, and then led 14-4 early in the second before the Ramblers woke up, and put together a 15-2 tear to end the first half that was highlighted by threes from Gilder and Alford, Jordan’s putback dunk, and another score by Gilder for a three point lead at the half. Â Weiler, who also grabbed 7 rebounds in the contest, led all scorers at the break with 8 points. Â In the third quarter, Ahr rallied to take control of the contest again with a 16-10 showing thanks in part to Weiler and Abano, who combined for 12 points in the frame. Â Ahr led by five early in the fourth before Carteret rallied with the final 10 points including one of two free throws by Jordan at the one minute mark, a layup by Robertson with 20 seconds left, and two free throws by Robertson with two seconds play for the win.
The Trojans did have a chance to tie, but had a three pointer off the mark in the waning seconds. Â With the victory, Carteret won its sixth straight, and 10th in its last 12 games with those two losses coming against top five teams in McCarrick and South Brunswick by a combined total of 9 points. Â The Ramblers improved to 12-4 overall including an 8-2 mark in the GMC Blue. Â Meanwhile, Bishop Ahr slipped to 5-9 overall and 4-5 in divisional play. Â The Trojans have now lost three in a row.