West, Walker, and Ford Lead Falcons to 4th Straight Division Crown
METUCHEN, NJ–Some may have not thought it was possible in the beginning of the season in December, but when the dust settled following the GMC Red showdown against South Brunswick, St. Joseph’s stood atop the heap again.
Led by the efforts of senior guard, Letrell West, who scored 18 points, and the play of senior forward Malachi Walker (13 points) and freshman Tyree Taganeca-Ford (13 points), the top ranked St. Joseph’s Falcons clinched their fourth straight GMC Red Championship, and seventh in the past 8 years with a 64-52 victory over third ranked South Brunswick.
Freshman Richard Greaves chipped in with 11 points while senior point guard, Mike Granda added 9 points. Mike Ugarte led South Brunswick in a losing cause with a team high 11 points while fellow senior Tavian Alford chipped in with 9 points. Ryan Moran, Chris James, and Kunal Thakral each added 6 points in the loss.
South Brunswick, which had more three pointers than field goals (10-9), outscored St. Joe’s by a margin of 30-9 from long distance. However, the Falcons were able to overcome that with a 46-18 showing in points scored from within the arc. St. Joseph’s also went 9 of 12 from the line while South Brunswick was only 4 of 5.
The Falcons outscored the Vikings in each of the first three periods en route to a 46-28 lead. South Brunswick, which trailed 14-9 after one, and gave up the first six points of the second to trail by 11, rallied with a 13-2 rally to tie the game at 22-22 with 3:03 to go in the second. From that point on, St. Joe’s outscored the visitors from Monmouth Junction by a margin of 26-6 over a span of 11:03.
South Brunswick made another run in the fourth by scoring 19 of the first 30 points of the fourth to pull within ten again, but couldn’t get any closer than that the rest of the way as the Falcons led by as many as 15 late before Alford sank a three pointer in the closing seconds to round out the scoring.
St. Joe’s opened up the game on a 10-2 run including a pull-up jumper by West to open the game following a steal by Greaves, and a steal and score by Ford at the 4:23 mark. Vic Huetz (4 points) had the only points for South Brunswick early on when he sank a baseline jumper from the right side to tie the game at 2-2.
South Brunswick would battle back though with 7 of the last 11 points of the first including a three from Ryan Moran to close the gap to 14-9 after one. St. Joseph’s then began the second by scoring six unanswered points for a 20-9 lead. Then, the Vikings got going as Anthony Blakey (5 points) sparked a 13-2 rally with a three from the left wing off a kickout by Alford at the 6:11 mark of the second.
Moran followed with his second and final three of the game on a jumper from the left wing to pull the Vikes within three again at 20-17 at the 4:23 mark of the second. Over the next 1:20, the Vikings scored 5 of the next 7 points including two free throws by Alford to tie the score at 22-22 with 3:03 remaining in the first half.
Unfortunately, South Brunswick couldn’t maintain its momentum as St. Joseph’s scored the last 7 points of the first half including a three from the right side by Taganeca-Ford at the 1:31 mark, and then a two handed jam by Walker off a nice drive and dish by West for a 29-22 lead at the half.
St. Joseph’s then picked up right where they left off in the second to start the third by scoring the first 8 points including a three from the left wing by Taganeca-Ford at the 5:33 mark, and a three by Granda at the 5:19 mark for a 37-22 lead. Over a span of 5:44, the Falcons had scored 15 unanswered points to break away from the 22-22 tie in the latter half of the second.
The Vikings would get a score to put a halt to the Falcons run, but Greaves pushed the lead back up to 15 when he connected on a pull-up jumper from the foul line at the 3:31 mark for a 39-24 score. After another South Brunswick score closed the gap to a baker’s dozen again, West converted a traditional three point play at the 1:50 mark for a 42-26 lead.
The Falcons then scored 6 of the last 8 points as Walker swatted away a shot with 50 seconds left before scoring on another two handed jam off a feed by Granda for a commanding 46-28 Joes lead heading into the fourth. South Brunswick attempted to get back into the game with a run similar to the third quarter tear in the two team’s first meeting on January 12th.
Highlighted by a three from the left corner by Thakral at the 6:34 mark, the Vikes scored 6 of the first 7 points to narrow the deficit to 13 again at 48-34. South Brunswick then scored 13 of the next 22 points including threes from Chris James, Greg Lee, and Anthony Blakey to close the gap to 57-47.
St. Joseph’s wouldn’t let the Vikings get any closer though. Instead, the Falcons scored 7 of the next 9 points including a score by Taganeca-Ford off a feed from Walker at the 1:27 mark for a 59-47 lead. Walker and Granda added free throws to help give St. Joe’s a 64-49 lead with under a minute to play.
Alford then closed out the scoring for South Brunswick with a three pointer from the left wing in the closing seconds for the 64-52 final score. With the win, St. Joseph’s improves to 19-0 overall including a 13-0 mark in the GMC Red. South Brunswick, which had its eight game winning streak snapped, fell to 16-3 overall including a 10-3 mark in divisional play.
Both teams return to action on Tuesday as they close out their 2016-17 Red Division regular season schedules. St. Joseph’s will host Old Bridge on Senior Night at 7:00 PM on Tuesday while South Brunswick will travel to Perth Amboy to take on the Panthers at 7:00 PM on Tuesday night.