19th Seeded Bulldogs Hold Off Determined P-Way Tech Rally to Win
METUCHEN, NJ—Entering its game with 19th seeded Metuchen in the 2022 GMCT Play-In Round on Saturday afternoon at the Dawg Pound, Piscataway Tech had only two wins the entire season. However, with long time head coach Lenny Reyes ability to make magic at this time of year, the Raiders found a way to make this contest the most entertaining of the entire eight game round. Metuchen had to fight off a determined P-Way Tech squad to advance to the GMCT Preliminary Round on Tuesday with a 57-52 victory.
Dominic Schiappa led all scorers with a game high 22 points while Ben Santus chipped in with 13, and Marcus Malamug came off the bench to add 8 in the win. Three players combined for all of Piscataway Tech’s points as Isaiah Shepard and Jonan Vargas shared the team high of 21 points while Stanley Velasco chipped in with 10.
Seven different players scored for Metuchen including three in double figures as first year coach James Cardillo has done a fine job of getting everyone in the game, and it has produced tangible results. Santus is playing with more confidence and Malamug has improved as well while also having a knack for making key plays off the bench for the Bulldogs.
Meanwhile, enough can’t be said about Coach Reyes and the Raiders. Reyes, who coached teams to two of the biggest upsets in GMCT history during the GMC Hoops era, managed to get his Raiders to play inspired basketball. Shepard and Vargas, two players that returned with the most experience this year, willed the team back into the contest by making big shot after big shot.
It didn’t look good in the first half for the Raiders. After Vargas netted a three from the left wing to draw P-Way Tech to within three at 20-17 with 5:26 to play in the first half, Metuchen scored 15 of the next 16 points including 8 from Santus to put the Raiders on the ropes. The combination of the Bulldogs trapping defense, Santus’ scoring, and a couple scores inside from senior Liam Benderly (5 points), Metuchen built up a 35-18 lead.
However, Piscataway Tech settled down following a timeout called by Reyes, and scored the next 8 points to pull within single digits before Malamug connected on a three pointer from the right wing with 3.5 seconds to play in the first half for a 38-26 lead at the intermission. Metuchen began the third by netting a three pointer to increase its advantage back to 13 at 41-28, but P-Way Tech rallied again behind Vargas.
Sinking a pull-up jumper and subsequently making a pair of free throws, Vargas managed to get the Raiders back to within 11 at 43-30 with 3:01 left in the third. Making matters worse for Metuchen, the Bulldogs were assessed a technical, and were saddled with some foul trouble which allowed the Raiders to narrow the deficit even further.
Piscataway Tech finished the third by scoring the final 6 points to cap an 8-2 rally that narrowed the deficit to 43-36 heading into the fourth. Shepard capped the rally with a score in transition as he was fouled. Metuchen responded with a crucial 8-5 run to begin the fourth as Santus and Schiappa scored while Max Cohn added a three for his only points of the game, and a 51-41 Bulldogs advantage with 5:23 remaining.
The Raiders, which lost to an East Brunswick Tech team that Metuchen beat 80-40 on January 31st, refused to give up though. Over the next four minutes, Piscataway Tech scored 9 of the next 11 points including a three from Vargas and scores from Shepard and Velasco to make it a one possession game at 53-50 with under a minute to play.
Fortunately for Metuchen, Malamug came to the rescue with a huge putback, and then after a P-Way Tech score, Santus wrapped up the victory with a score of his own with under 30 seconds left. With the victory, Metuchen advanced to the GMCT Preliminary Round on Tuesday, where it will travel to 14th seeded Sayreville for a 5:30 PM contest at the Bomb Shelter.
The Bulldogs, which had lost four straight games after reaching .500 at 7-7 two weeks ago, improved to 8-11 overall on the season. Piscataway Tech dropped to 2-15 overall on the season, and return to play on Monday evening at home with a non-conference game versus Roselle Park. With his 22 points in the victory, Schiappa now has 1,209 points for his career.
DID YOU KNOW? Piscataway Tech head coach, Lenny Reyes served as an assistant to Metuchen head coach James Cardillo when the two were at J.P. Stevens. Reyes was on Cardillo’s staff for the 2007-08 season when the Hawks reached the 2008 GMCT Quarterfinals.
As mentioned earlier, Reyes has two of the biggest upsets in recent GMCT history in 2004 and 2014. Ironically in 2004, Reyes was in his 2nd season as head coach of Metuchen when he engineered a GMCT Preliminary Round upset as the 25th seeded Bulldogs knocked off GMC Gold champion and 8th seeded Piscataway Tech (58-52) in overtime.
Then in 2014, he guided 24th seeded South Amboy to upset wins over 9th seeded Monroe (45-41) and 8th seeded Timothy Christian (54-52) in overtime to become the lowest seed ever to reach the GMCT Quarterfinals.