New Brunswick Edges Bishop Ahr; South Brunswick Holds Off Elizabeth
NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ–It was a very good night of basketball at New Brunswick High School with two games from the 2016 Odie Page Summer League. Both games went down to the wire, and were determined by single digits. Two teams tied for first place, New Brunswick and South Brunswick, came up winners in two entertaining games.
In the first game, New Brunswick trailed 26-19 late in the first half after an 11-3 tear by Bishop Ahr including a layup and a three pointer by Alex Santiago and several scores by Sean Kudelka. The Zebras battled back by first getting a layup with under thirty seconds to play in the half, and then converting a three point play with two seconds left to go into the intermission only trailing by two at 26-24.
Bishop Ahr gave itself some breathing room early on in the second half as Sean Kudelka continued to dominated with a number of scores including one in transition off a nifty spin move to put the Trojans up by four at 38-34. However, the Zebras stormed back again with nine unanswered points including a layup at the 8:52 mark and a pair of free throws with 7:51 left for a 43-38 lead.
Ahr rallied back again behind the efforts of Kudelka by scoring 7 of the next 9 points to tie the game again at 45-45, but New Brunswick scored the next six including a floater and then a reverse layup to take a 51-45 lead with about a minute to play. Santiago then hit a late three for BGA to close the gap to a single possession, but New Brunswick was able to hang on for the three point win.
In the nightcap, Elizabeth and South Brunswick went back and forth for the first few minutes of the game before the Vikings went on a 10-2 run ignited by a three pointer from Chris James, and then capped by a trey from Shawn Bautista to take a 14-7 lead. Bautista added another trey, but the Minutemen rallied by scoring 8 of the next 11 points to close the gap to two at 17-15. The Vikes managed to keep the Minutemen at a distance though with a late first half run.
Led by Tavian Alford and Morgan Jones, South Brunswick ended the half on a 12-2 run as Alford sparked the spurt with two layups while Jones added a layup and then a three pointer just before the buzzer to give the Vikes a 29-17 lead. Elizabeth rallied again in the second half to pull with an 18-10 showing that included six straight points down the stretch to pull within four at 39-35, but Jones made one of two from the line with 15 seconds left, and South Brunswick made another one of two from the charity stripe with 11 seconds remaining to seal the win. Below are the scores from last night’s action at the Odie Page Summer League:
Odie Page Summer League–Results–July 21, 2016
- New Brunswick 51–Bishop Ahr 48
- South Brunswick 41–Elizabeth 35
Special thanks to new varsity boys basketball coach at New Brunswick High School, Samir Sanu for providing information on this league.