Juniors Robinson and Henry Lead Barrons Past Crusaders
| Woodbridge’s Quran Robinson elevates for a three in the fourth quarter against A.L. Johnson at the 2016 Eric LeGrand Classic on Sunday afternoon. Robinson finished with 22 points to lead the Barrons to a 65-59 win. |
UNION, NJ–Coming into Sunday afternoon’s game against A.L. Johnson of the Union County Conference in the fourth game of the day at the 2016 Eric LeGrand Classic, the seventh ranked Woodbridge Barrons has been one of the hotter teams in the Greater Middlesex Conference. After starting the year with two straight losses, the Barrons have won 7 of their last 9 including five in a row. Included in those five straight wins were upsets over two teams ranked in the GMC Hoops Top 5 in East Brunswick on January 9th and Sayreville on January 14th.
Woodbridge was hoping to avoid a letdown against the Crusaders, but found itself in a struggle against the upstart team from Clark. Trailing 23-12 midway through the second quarter, and 49-43 with 2:47 remaining, the Barrons, which had one of their top players in Quassim Glover (6 points) foul out in the fourth quarter, had to summon everything it could to pull out the win. Thanks to juniors Quran Robinson and Keshaun Henry, who combined to score 36 points, and Curtis Nesbit, who drew a foul on a three point attempt and made all three foul shots with 19.5 seconds remaining, Woodbridge was able to force overtime, and then pull away in the extra session with an 11-5 showing for a 65-59 victory.
Robinson, who is averaging 12.8 points per game, finished with a team high 22 points while Henry chipped in with 14 in the win. Harry Rutkowski also came up big with a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds. Rutkowski came up with a huge steal for a layup in the fourth quarter to keep the Barrons within striking distance. George Visconti led all scorers with a game high 31 points while teammate Mitch Becker chipped in with 11. Six different players scored for Woodbridge while only four did for A.L. Johnson. The Barrons outscored the Crusaders by a 12-6 margin from beyond the arc with all four of their threes coming courtesy of Robinson. Woodbridge also enjoyed a 20-15 advantage in points scored from the foul line.
It didn’t look good early on for the Barrons. The Crusaders scored the first five points including a three from the left side of the key before Robinson netted a jumper to put Woodbridge on the board at the 5:40 mark. A.L. Johnson then scored 4 of the next 6 points including a basket at the 3:30 mark for a 9-4 lead. Woodbridge narrowed the deficit to three again by scoring 4 of the next 6 in a 1:53 span including a bucket underneath by Rutkowski for an 11-8 Crusaders lead with 1:37 left in the first, but Johnson finished the frame by scoring 6 of the last 8 points for a 17-10 advantage into the second. The Crusaders opened up the second much like they had finished the first by putting together another 6-2 burst including a jumper by Visconti for a 23-12 advantage at the 5:12 mark.
Following a Glover basket and a Woodbridge timeout at the 4:17 mark of the second, the Barrons rallied with 9 of the last 13 points of the first half including scores by Robinson and Henry to pull within four at 27-23 going into the intermission. At the break, Robinson led Woodbridge with 6 points while Rutkowski chipped in with 5. The Barrons came out strong to begin the second half with 8 of the first 10 points in just 1:54 to take their first lead of the game at 31-29 with just over six minutes left in the period. Robinson struck for two of his threes during the stretch while Glover capped the run with a transition layup. The Barrons then added a free throw for a 32-29 lead before A.L. Johnson called timeout at the 5:13 mark. Following the stoppage, the Crusaders scored the next four points to retake the lead, but Henry got a score that put Woodbridge back up by one at 34-33 with 2:33 to play in the third.
Johnson scored 5 of the last 8 points of the third, and two of the first three points of the fourth for a 7-3 run, and a 40-38 lead with 5:57 left in the game. The Crusaders then made it a 9-3 run with another score before Rutkowski came up with a crucial play by swiping a steal, and going the rest of the way for a layup to close the gap to 43-40 with 4:26 remaining in regulation. A.L. Johnson got itself some much needed breathing room for the time being by scoring 6 of the next 9 over a span of 1:39 including two free throws at the 2:47 mark for a 49-43 lead. Woodbridge battled back again to tie the score at 51-51 with an 8-2 spurt that included two free throws by Henry at the 1:56 mark and a three by Robinson. The Crusaders went back in front at 52-51 on a free throw with 48.1 seconds left in regulation. Johnson added another score for a 54-51 lead before Woodbridge called for time with 34.9 seconds left in regulation.
Following the Barrons’ timeout, Woodbridge inbounded the ball, and tried to set up for a game tying three when Nesbit drew a foul on a shot attempt from beyond the arc with 19.5 seconds left. With every made free throw, Nesbit grew more confident, and he tied the game at 54-54 by making all three foul shots. A.L. Johnson had a chance to win the game in regulation, but lost the ball out of bounds in the closing seconds. In the extra session, Woodbridge scored 8 of the first 11 points including a pair of free throws by Henry and a steal for a layup by Robinson for a 62-57 lead with 1:02 left. The Barrons went on to win from there by the score of 65-59. With the victory, Woodbridge won its sixth straight to improve to 8-3 overall including a 2-0 mark against non-conference foes. A.L. Johnson dropped to 4-7 overall and 0-4 versus out of conference opponents with the loss. The Barrons return to action on Thursday against White Division rival, and 8th ranked J.P. Stevens.