Piners Cruise Past Falcons in MSC Summer League Game at Ranney
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| Monroe’s Peter Nesti releases a jump shot in the second half against Lakewood in a contest from the 2016 Monroe Sports Center Summer League played at the Ranney School in Tinton Falls on Thursday. Lakewood cruised to a 75-50 victory. |
TINTON FALLS, NJ–Coming off losses to Ranney on Wednesday, both Lakewood and Monroe were looking to rebound as they squared off in another GMC vs. Shore match-up from the 2016 Monroe Sports Center Summer League being played at the Ranney School. The Piners, led by the likes of Adi Palmer, have had a good deal of length over the past couple of seasons, and their big men have also shown that they can shoot the perimeter shot. Meanwhile, Monroe with a very talented group of underclassmen this past season, improved late in the year, and are looking to build off of that strong finish in 2016-17.
However, it would be Lakewood that played well on this day. While Monroe continued to struggle offensively, particularly from the perimeter, Lakewood attacked the glass for putbacks while making their outside shots, and then finished off a 75-50 victory over the Falcons with a few dunks as well. Luke Patel, Peter Nesti, Mike Kides, Matt Hoyt, and Eric Johnson were bright spots for the Falcons, which were playing shorthanded without the likes of Hassan Reid and Fritz Frage. Lakewood jumped out to an early 5-2 lead before Kides connected on a short jumper from the right baseline at the 17:15 mark to trim the deficit to one at 5-4.
The Piners responded though by scoring the next six points including a layup while being fouled at the 15:07 mark, and a putback at the 14:09 mark for an 11-4 lead as Monroe called for time. Kides then fired in a three from the right wing to narrow the deficit to four, but Lakewood responded again with a bucket and a trey to increase the lead to nine at 16-7 with 12:18 remaining in the first half. The Piners then added 4 of the 6 next points before Patel splashed a long three from the left wing at the 8:30 mark for a 20-12 Lakewood lead. Patel then added a traditional three point play at the 6:57 mark to close the gap some more at 20-15. The Falcons were unable to get any closer though.
Lakewood would score 12 of the next 18 points including two threes for a 26-18 lead at the 5:58 mark, and then 6 of the next 9 points over nearly a three minute span for a 32-21 advantage with three minutes left in the first half. Monroe would battle back though by finishing the first half on a 6-1 run including a three from the left wing by Matt Hoyt to trim the deficit back down to six at 33-27 going into the intermission. The Piners would open the half with the first four points before Johnson scored on a layup to pull the Falcons back within single digits at 37-29 at the 18:57 mark. Nesti then added a three from the top of the key to cap a 7-2 spurt that narrowed the deficit a little more at 43-36 with 17 minutes to go.
Again though, Monroe was unable to get any closer as Lakewood reeled off six straight points on three straight layups for a 49-36 lead at the 15:19 mark. Then, after Patel connected on another trey for the Falcons to bring the deficit back down to ten at 49-39, the Piners got another two layups for a 14 point edge with 12:37 remaining. Despite a three by Kides and two layups by Johnson, Lakewood still managed to outscore Monroe by an 11-9 margin over the next 8:02 for a 64-48 lead with four and a half minutes to play. Then, the Piners finished off the 75-50 win with a flourish by scoring 11 of the last 13 points including an alleyoop dunk. With the victory, Lakewood improved to 1-1 on the summer at MSC while Monroe dropped to 0-2. Both teams return to action next week with games at MSC.