Hawks Overcome Knights First Quarter Run to Grind Out Upset Win
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| Rishav Ghosh of J.P. Stevens, seen here during the summer at the Rahway Summer League, didn’t score, but his defense and hustle helped key a upset win by the Hawks over No. 5 Old Bridge on Thursday night. |
NORTH EDISON, NJ–Coming into the season, not much was expected for the J.P. Stevens boys basketball team by GMC Hoops. Despite having a talented junior class as well as the 2016 GMC Hoops Sixth Man of the Year, Rishav Ghosh, the Hawks lost four starters from a year ago, and moved up to the GMC Red after being in the White Division the previous two years.
In addition, the lone returning starter, Javon Scott was injured early on in the season. Despite that, Stevens knocked off pre-season No. 9 ranked Monroe (40-39) on a Ghosh layup with several seconds remaining on opening night, and then rallied in the fourth quarter to knock off a North Plainfield team (58-52) from Somerset County that is currently 14-3 and ranked sixth in the Skyland Conference according to NJ.com.
Show there have been flashes of brilliance from a team that won the Rahway Summer League for the second straight year. However, the Hawks have had to battle through a very tough schedule with not only the likes of St. Joseph’s, South Brunswick, Old Bridge, Piscataway, and East Brunswick, but also contend with a wild rivalry game against Edison, and two non-conference games against a 17-1 Scotch Plains team that defeated Woodbridge (54-47) at the Eric LeGrand Classic.
Thursday night’s match-up against Old Bridge was another moment where J.P. Stevens proved that if they’re not quite up to the elite schools in the Greater Middlesex Conference, it is very close. Head coach Bobby Jones’s grind it out style of running a patient offense, playing tough defense, and getting just enough scoring from his key people can be a recipe for success as the fifth ranked Knights of OBHS found out in a 32-29 upset.
After scoring the first five points of the game, all courtesy of Scott, the Hawks gave way to what looked to be a decisive 12-0 run by Old Bridge over a span of about four minutes to take a seven point lead. Instead of giving in, Stevens not only battled its way back into the contest, but found a way to win it. The Hawks scored the last three points of the first period on a three from Elisha Smith (3 points), and then limited the Knights to just three points in the second while getting a layup from Rishav Ghosh to end the half trailing 15-10.
In the third, Old Bridge would get threes from Will Osvald (11 points) and Rich Calandrino (8 points) to give itself a little bit of breathing room, but Stevens managed to chip away at the deficit slightly with a 7-6 edge in the quarter thanks to an and one bucket by Scott to pull within four at 18-14 with 4:20 to go in the period, and a jumper from the right side by Tyrese Conover (11 points) in the final minute of the frame to trail 21-17 heading into the fourth.
Stevens continued to creep back into the game by opening the fourth with 4 of the first 7 points including a three pointer from the left side by Conover at the 6:53 mark to make the score 24-21 in favor of Old Bridge. The Hawks continued to slow down the Knights with its defense and patient offense, lulling the fifth ranked team into an offensive funk while managing to tie the game at 24-24 a little over four minutes later on a three from the left side of the key by Rohan Rao (6 points) with 2:45 to go in regulation.
Both teams had chances to go in front over the final two plus minutes of regulation. Kyle Parris, who was limited to just 6 points on the night, hustled to get a loose ball, and Old Bridge called for time with 1:18 left. However, after another Knights timeout with 21.9 seconds to play, Stevens managed to force a loose ball, and get possession of it with 17.7 seconds remaining.
The Hawks, too, were unable to score though as they missed a shot from the right side with time running out, and failed to put in the follow as the game went to overtime tied at 24-24. In the extra session, Stevens drew first blood as Conover drove down the middle of the paint, and put up a floater that gently bounced in at the 3:15 mark for a 26-24 lead.
J.P. Stevens then got two free throws from Conover and one of two from the line by Scott to take a 29-26 lead with 43.8 seconds left. Old Bridge’s points came via the foul line as well as Parris made two from the charity stripe. The Knights were unable to get any closer as the Hawks got another two foul shots from Conover for a 31-26 lead with 8.7 seconds to play.
Brandon Milling (1 point) and Frank DiSerio (1 point) exchanged foul shots and then Parris got a layup off just before the buzzer as Stevens players, coaches, and fans celebrated a special win. The Hawks had 7 field goals, 3 treys, and made 9 of 16 from the line in the win. Meanwhile, Old Bridge collected 5 field goals and 5 threes, but was only 4 of 9 from the line.
The Knights had over half of their points from long distance as they outscored Stevens by a margin of 15-9 from beyond the arc. However, the Hawks were able to make up for that by outscoring Old Bridge by a 14-10 margin from within the arc, and by a 9-4 margin from the line. The Knights also had 14 team fouls while the Hawks only had 10.
With the victory, J.P. Stevens improved to 5-12 overall on the season including a 3-9 mark in the GMC Red, which places them in a tie for sixth place with Perth Amboy, a team the Hawks play on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 PM. Meanwhile, Old Bridge had a three game winning streak snapped, and fell to 12-7 overall including a 7-5 mark in divisional play. The Knights will host Monroe on Saturday morning at 11:30 AM.