Freshman Albion Ahmetaj highlighted a Spotswood 20-8 second quarter with this second quarter slam to give the 10th ranked Chargers a 42-18 halftime lead en route to an 80-47 victory over South Amboy at the 2022 Friends of South Amboy Charity Basketball Games.
Walker Leads Three Chargers in Double Figures with 18 in FOSA Opener
SOUTH AMBOY, NJ – Two seasons ago, Spotswood’s long time head coach, Steve Mate, endured a tough 3-11 campaign during the COVID shortened 2020-21 campaign. At that time, the Chargers were relatively young and inexperienced, but talented. With the likes of sophomores Aiden Scher and Casey Cumiskey as well as freshman Daniel Yarus, there was a bright future ahead.
A year ago, Spotswood was the most improved team in the Greater Middlesex Conference led by Roman Carone, who now plays hoops at Centenary College, with an overall record of 16-9. And along with Scher, Cumiskey, and Yarus were the likes of newcomers Rion Ahmetaj, Kiye Walker, Dominic Perez, and Solan Adams.
This past summer, the Chargers competed in both the Bound Brook and Bridgewater Summer Leagues, and had another new face, freshman forward Albion Ahmetaj. With a squad consisting of big men such as Yarus, Cumiskey, Adams, and both Ahmetaj’s, Mate, who entered Saturday’s contest against South Amboy just two wins shy of 400 for his career, may have his his tallest, most athletic, and talented team ever.
The 10th ranked Chargers took on the host school South Amboy Governors in the opener of the 2022 Friends of South Amboy Charity Basketball Games at South Amboy Middle-High School. The Chargers jumped out to a 22-10 first quarter lead, and then deployed full court pressure in the second period to produce a 20-8 surge for a 42-18 halftime lead.
From there, Spotswood cruised to an 80-47 victory over a Guvs team that was without its leading scorer, Brandon Gasiewski (out until January with injury) and big man Josiah Floyd (bruised knee). Junior guard, Kiye Walker led three Charger players in double figures with a team high 18 points including 14 in the first half.
Fellow classmate, Rion Ahmetaj chipped in with 17 points including 13 in the first half while Yarus added 10 of his 13 points in the second half in the victory. South Amboy was led by junior Gavin Pelkey, who tallied a game high 22 points including 12 in the first half and 10 in the second half. Teammate Jake Eberle contributed in defeat for the Guvs with 13 points and 8 rebounds.
Eberle scored 10 of his points over the final two periods, and sank 7 of 10 from the line. Nine different players scored in the game for Spotswood while only 6 scored for South Amboy. The Chargers scored at least 20 points in three of the four periods. Spotswood’s athleticism was on full display with a one handed slam by Albion Ahmetaj (8 points, 4 rebounds, and an assist) and an early third quarter dunk by Walker.
In addition, the Chargers demonstrated athleticism as well on defense with several blocked shots. Spotswood outscored South Amboy by a margin of 54-18 from within the arc while both teams were even in three pointers with four. The Guvs had an advantage at the line by making 17 of 24 attempts while the Chargers were only 14 of 30 from the charity stripe. Spotswood also had 24 team fouls versus 20 for South Amboy.
Spotswood jumped out to a 12 point first quarter lead as five different Chargers scored including Walker and Rion Ahmetaj, who each had 8. The second quarter saw neither team score for the first two plus minutes before the Chargers ended the half with 20 of the last 28 points. Albion Ahmetaj highlighted the surge when he poked the ball away from a South Amboy player into the hands of teammate Joseph Nardino, who passed up court to the streaking Ahmetaj for a thunderous one handed dunk to cap a 42-18 first half.
The third quarter began with Spotswood scoring the first four points of the second half including a dunk by Walker after he stole a pass near the scorers table. The Chargers then scored 6 of the next 8 points for a 52-20 lead before the Guvs finished the quarter on a 17-6 tear as Eberle banked in a floater he shot over two Spotswood defenders to close the gap to 58-37 heading into the fourth.
Spotswood would redeem its scoring advantage by outscoring South Amboy by a 22-10 margin in the fourth. Senior guard, Joe Spisso (5 points, 3 rebounds, and a steal) wrapped up the Chargers victory with a three point play late in the fourth while sophomore guard Zeyad Elshazly (8 points, 2 rebounds, and an assist) went a perfect 8 of 8 from the foul line and Rion Ahmetaj added four.
With the victory, Spotswood, which defeated Carteret (71-36) in its season opener on Friday, improved to 2-0. The Chargers are slated to play arch rival and 8th ranked South River on Monday night at the Spotswood Athletic Center starting at 6:30 PM. South Amboy, which fell in its season opener to East Brunswick Magnet (40-37), dropped to 0-2 on the new season.