Vikings Standout to Play for the Jumbos Men’s Basketball Team
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| South Brunswick’s Eric Savage, seen here pulling down a rebound against West Windsor-Plainsboro South in the 2015 Brunswick-Windsor Classic over the holidays, will attend and play basketball for Tufts University in Massachusetts next fall. |
MONMOUTH JUNCTION, NJ—Earlier this year, South Brunswick’s Eric Savage announced via twitter that he will attend Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, where he will also play basketball for the Jumbos men’s basketball team. This past season, Savage led the SBHS boys basketball team to its best season since 2006-07 with a 22-5 record. The Vikings were awarded the Most Improved Team of the Year by GMC Hoops after improving over last season (14-9) by 9 games in the win column.
This past season, Savage played in all 27 of South Brunswick’s games, and tallied a total of 557 points on 169 field goals, 35 three pointers, and 112 free throws to average 20.6 points per game. Savage was third in the GMC in scoring and fifth in free throws made. He scored in double figures in all 27 games played including just over half of those games (14) where he scored at least 20 points. He scored a career high of 41 points against Newark Collegiate on February 13th, and 30 points in a win over Piscataway on February 4th.
For his career, Savage played in 72 games, sank 298 field goals, 58 three pointers, and 181 foul shots for a total of 953 points, or an average of 13.2 points per game. He also pulled down a total of 202 rebounds including 123 this past season. Savage averaged 4.6 rebounds per game in 2015-16, and 2.8 per game for his career according to nj.com. During the course of its 22-5 season, South Brunswick finished tied for 2nd in the GMC Red, reached the GMCT Championship for the first time since 1993, and advanced to the Central Jersey Group 4 semifinals since 2007.
Savage will be joining another former Central Jersey hoops standout in Bridgewater-Raritan’s Vincent Pace at Tufts. The Jumbos, which compete in the New England Small College Athletic Conference, was 23-7 overall this past season including a 7-3 record in conference play. Tufts advanced to the conference semifinals and the NCAA Division 3 Elite Eight before losing to Amherst each time. The Jumbos are graduating several players including guard Stephen Haladyna, who scored 20 points in the loss to Amherst in the NCAA D3 Elite Eight. Savage is not the first former SBHS basketball player to attend Tufts.
Back in 2008, Jordan Teicher, who was recognized as the GMC Hoops Scholar Athlete of the Year, attended Tufts. Congratulations Eric, and best of luck at Tufts not only on the court, but most importantly in the classroom.