Vikings End Game on 14-1 Tear for Victory over Panthers
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| South Brunswick’s Mike Ugarte follows through on a fadeaway jumper in the fourth quarter against Bridgewater-Raritan in the Coaches versus Cancer Shootout at Montgomery High School on Saturday. Ugarte finished with 19 points in the 55-44 Vikings win. |
SKILLMAN, NJ–After losing in heartbreaking fashion to second ranked and Red Division rival, St. Joseph’s on Thursday, South Brunswick looked to pick itself up and get back on the winning track when it faced off against Bridgewater-Raritan of the Skyland Conference’s Delaware Division in the second game of the day at the 2017 Coaches vs. Cancer Shootout at Montgomery High School.
It wouldn’t be easy though. Following a foul line jumper by Mike Ugarte for a 32-19 Vikings lead with 6:40 to play in the third, Bridgewater-Raritan stormed back with a 24-9 surge over the next 8:22 to take a 43-41 lead with 6:18 remaining. Trailing 41-36 after a clutch jumper by SBHS’ Tavian Alford, the Panthers scored seven unanswered points in just 30 seconds including a layup from the right low block for the lead.
Regrouping with a timeout, South Brunswick took back control, and it would be for good. Sparked by back to back threes from Alford and Chris James, the Vikings closed the game by scoring 14 of the last 15 points to come away with a hard fought, and much needed 55-44 victory over Bridgewater-Raritan.
Ugarte, who also highlighted the final run by the Vikes with a fadeaway jumper from the left baseline at the 2:37 mark of the fourth, finished with a game high 19 points on seven field goals and five foul shots. Alford chipped in with 12 points including two fourth quarter threes.
Ryan Moran added 8 points along with solid defense and some great hustle for loose balls and offensive rebounds while James sank two threes for 6 points. Kunal Thakral contributed with 5 points including a key late second quarter three while Vic Huetz rounding out the scoring with 3 points.
Dan Kaschak led Bridgewater-Raritan in a losing cause with a team high 11 points while Aaron Gao, Sterling White, and Aiden Christensen each chipped in with 8 points. Tony Colarusso and Brian Cooper rounded out the Panthers scoring with 5 and 4 points respectively. The Panthers had six different players score while the Vikings had seven players get into the books.
South Brunswick enjoyed a 15-9 edge in points scored from beyond the arc while both teams had 15 field goals inside the arc. The Vikings also enjoyed a 10-5 advantage in points scored from the foul line. SBHS outscored Bridgewater in three of the four quarters played.
The first quarter was tightly contested with several ties already in the contest before South Brunswick took an 8-6 lead on a Moran jumper at the 4:19 mark. The Vikings then scored 6 of the last 11 points of the period including a layup before the buzzer by Alford for a 14-11 advantage going into the second.
Highlighted by a short jumper from Ugarte at the 4:48 mark, the Vikes started the second by scoring 6 of the first 7 points for a 20-12 lead. Bridgewater-Raritan responded by scoring the next five points on a three pointer and a layup over a span of just 2:18 to close the gap to 20-17 with a little under three minutes to play in the half.
South Brunswick then finished the half on an 8-0 run that included threes from Thakral and James. The trey by James, who has five threes in his last two games, came from the left corner with time running out in the half for a 28-17 lead at intermission.
Bridgewater-Raritan came out with a purpose at the start of the third, and that resulted in a 17-12 showing by the Panthers in the frame to close within single digits again at 40-34 heading into the fourth. South Brunswick started the second half with 4 of the first 6 points including Ugarte’s jumper for the 32-19 lead.
The Panthers began the road back into the contest by scoring 8 of the next 10 points including a three from the left side of the key by Gao. South Brunswick managed to go back up by nine on a drive from the left wing for a scoop shot layup by Ryan Moran for a 36-27 Vikings lead with 2:05 remaining in the third.
BRHS drew closer by scoring the next five points including a three from the left wing at the 36.6 second mark for a 36-32 SBHS lead. Ugarte then ended the period with a jumper in the closing seconds for a 38-32 Viking edge heading into the fourth. The lead wouldn’t last very long though for South Brunswick.
Instead Bridgewater opened the fourth with an 11-3 flurry that included those eight unanswered points for its first lead since the opening period. The only points by South Brunswick during the stretch was from Alford, who sank a three from the right corner to give the Vikes some breathing room at 41-36 with 6:48 to play.
Bridgewater had South Brunswick on the ropes, but with still a lot of time to play in regulation. The Panthers had the lead and momentum, but the Vikings still had a time on their side to overcome the small deficit, but they needed to regroup and called timeout with 6:18 to go in the fourth.
Following the timeout, South Brunswick took the lead for good at 44-43 with 5:47 left on a three by Alford from the right wing. Nearly a minute and a half later, the Vikings struck again on James’ second three of the game from the left side for a 47-43 lead with 4:21 to go.
While the Vikings defense put the clamps on the Panthers, Ugarte added his fadeaway from the left baseline at the 2:37 mark while Huetz added a free throw for a 50-43 lead. Bridgewater-Raritan, which was held without a field goal over the last 6:18, made one of two free throws with under a minute to go for its only points during this pivotal stretch.
South Brunswick scored 4 of the last 5 points of the game to wrap up the 55-44 victory to improve to 9-2 overall on the season including a 2-0 mark against non-conference teams so far this season. Bridgewater-Raritan dropped to 6-4 overall with the loss. The GMC is now 4-10 against Skyland Conference teams this season.
The Vikings return to action again next week with games at Old Bridge on Tuesday at 6:30 PM, and then at home versus Monroe at 6:00 PM on Thursday.