Crowley and Benites Score in Double Figures to Lead Freshmen Falcons to 60-33 Victory
| St. Joseph’s-Green’s Jack Hogarty fires a three pointer in the first half against East Brunswick. Hogarty finished with 9 points while Matt Crowley led the Frosh Falcons with 13 and Robert Benites chipped in with 12 in a 60-33 victory over East Brunswick in the GMC Hoops Freshmen Game of the Week. |
METUCHEN, NJ–In the first game of the GMC Hoops Tripleheader between East Brunswick and St. Joseph’s, freshmen squads from the two schools went at it. St. Joseph’s-Green, one of the two freshmen teams at Joes hosted EB in a late afternoon contest. In recent years, the freshmen squads from these two schools went at it in two very competitive games. This year’s edition of the GMC Hoops Freshmen Game of the Week between these two schools was not much of a contest.
Led by Matt Crowley, who scored a game high 13 points and big man, Robert Benites, who also scored in double figures with 12, the Freshmen Falcons of St. Joe’s-Green scored 8 of the first 10 points of the game, and 9 of the last 11 points of the first period to take a 24-13 lead. Then, in the second, Joes outscored EB by a 13-8 margin for a 37-21 lead, and led by as many as 31 in the second half before coasting to a 60-33 victory. Jack Hogarty chipped in with 9 for St. Joe’s-Green while Christian Kuan led EB’s Freshmen Bears with 10 points while football standout, Tim Gudzak chipped in with 8. Sal Salsa added 7 while Seth Warner came off the bench to score all 6 of his points in the fourth.
St. Joseph’s outscored EB in each of the first three quarters including a 19-4 showing in the third that blew the game open. East Brunswick made the game a little more respectable with an 8-4 run in the final period. The Freshmen Falcons opened the game by scoring 8 of the first 10 points thanks to the efforts of Crowley, Benites, and Hogarty. East Brunswick appeared to weather the storm though by responding with a 9-2 spurt that included a couple threes by Kuan to close the gap to 15-11. However, St. Joe’s-Green kept EB at arm’s length by putting together a 9-2 run of its own to end the period for the 11 point first quarter lead. Benites led the Frosh Falcons with 8 while Crowley and Hogarty each chipped in with 5. Kuan led EB with 8 points.
Picking up where it left off in the first period, the Freshmen Falcons opened the second by scoring 6 of the first 8 points including a coast to coast layup by Crowley for a 30-15 lead at the 5:27 mark. Crowley then added a drive through the key for a layup midway through the second for a 33-15 lead. East Brunswick then finished the half by scoring 6 of the last 10 points to close the gap to 37-21 going into the intermission. At the half, Benites led Joes with 10 while Crowley added 9 and Hogarty chipped in with 7. Meanwhile, EB continued to be led by Kuan with 10 while Gudzak added 6 and Salsa chipped in with 5. Six different players scored for St. Joseph’s-Green while only three scored for EB. The Freshmen Falcons also enjoyed a 6-3 edge in points scored from beyond the arc.
The third quarter would be the clear breaking point in this contest. St. Joseph’s-Green opened the second half with the first five points including a layup by Chris Carrera for a 42-21 lead before East Brunswick called time at the 6:27 mark. Following the timeout, the Freshmen Bears scored four of the next seven points before Nathaniel Wyatt drew a foul, and made one of two free throws for a 46-25 Joes lead at the 4:07 mark. St. Joe’s-Green then embarked on an 8-0 spurt topped off when Crowley weaved his way through traffic for a left handed layup and a 54-25 lead with 1:13 to play in the third. The Frosh Falcons then added another score before the end of the period for a 56-25 lead. Wyatt led Joes with 5 points in the third while Crowley added four.
In the fourth, EB put in its reserves, and led by Warner, the Freshmen Bears thrived. Warner accounted for 75 percent of EB’s scoring in the final stanza, and that translated to 7 of the first 9 points of the period for a 58-32 St. Joe’s-Green lead before Hogarty swiped a steal and went in for a layup and a 60-32 lead with 2:16 remaining. East Brunswick added another point over the final two plus minutes to round out the 60-33 St. Joseph’s-Green victory. This was the second time GMC Hoops saw EB’s Freshmen Team in action. On opening day, the Freshmen Bears, led by Sal Salsa, defeated North Brunswick, 55-23. Salsa led 13 different East Brunswick players in the scoring column in that contest with 13 points. Today’s contest was the first time St. Joe’s was covered in the Frosh Game of the Week.