St. Joseph’s Turns  Up The Heat Defensively In 2nd Half For Win, 63-49
WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ–At the half of its T of C semifinal game with St. Joseph’s, third seeded Atlantic City, also ranked third in the most  recent Star-Ledger statewide Top 20, had a lot to be happy about.  The Vikings didn’t get off to a bad start like they had done in their previous three games, Falcon big man, Karl Towns was in foul trouble, and AC led by two at the break.
In the first half, the Falcons only outshot Atlantic City by a margin of  48 to 46 percent while rebounding was close.  However, in the second half, St. Joe’s showed AC that it could also turn up the heat defensively.  They shut down Isaiah Graves, a second half clutch performer for the Vikings this post-season, and limited him to just 6 points on 2 of 12 shooting including an 0 of 4 showing from beyond the arc.  As a team, Atlantic City only shot 1 of 11 from long distance with Dayshawn Reynolds getting the only trey.
The Falcons also clamped down on  two-thirds of Atlantic City’s front line.  Both Jahleem Montague and Ga’briel Chandler, two players that played an important role in the Vikings second half rally against Point Pleasant Beach in the  quarterfinals, were limited to just 7 points each on a combined 3 of 14 shooting from the floor.  Dennis White along with Reynolds were the only bright spots with 15 and  14 points respectively on a combined 13 of 28 shooting from the field.  For the game, Atlantic City only made 31 percent on 18 of 57 shooting from the floor. Â
St. Joe’s defense was simply stifling in the second half.  Over the final two periods.  AC’s shooting percentage dropped 15 percent.  The Vikings went  just 5 of 30 from the floor in the second half.  3 of 15 from the floor in the fourth quarter alone including misses on their last 10 shot attempts of the game.  Atlantic City not only couldn’t get that clutch second half three that they had been able to get in the previous three rounds, but they couldn’t even buy one as it went 0 of 6 from beyond the arc in the final two periods.  The result was the Falcons turning a two point halftime deficit into a 14 point, 63-49 win by outscoring the Vikings by nearly a two to one margin (34-18) over the final two periods. Â
The Falcons also overcame a double digit rebounding deficit at one point in the first half to have a 35-33 edge on the boards. Â St. Joe’s also committed fewer team fouls (15-17), and ended up shooting 25 of 51 from the field for 49 percent. Â Both teams ended up going 12 of 18 from the free throw line. Â The four time defending GMCT champion, didn’t shoot much better from three point range by only going 1 of 12, but the Falcons got a combined 54 points, or 86 percent of its scoring from the Big Three of Karl Towns (24 points), Wade Baldwin (15 points), and Marques Townes (15 points). Â Towns, who managed to avoid fouling out of the contest, connected on 10 of 16 shots while Townes clicked on 6 of 10 shooting for the winners. Â
James Ziemba (4 points), Jimbo Long (4 points) and Raven Owen (1 point) combined for the final 9 points, but they gave so much more that didn’t show on the scoresheet. Â Both Long and Owen did a great job of handling the basketball against AC’s ball-hawking defense and played a key role in preventing Graves and Dayshawn Reynolds from doing their damage on the perimeter while Ziemba hustled, got on the floor for loose balls, rebounded well, and blocked shots. Â The Hillsborough native bound for Duke on a baseball scholarship, helped the Falcons weather the storm while Towns was on the bench. Â
One instance was early in the fourth quarter when AC got a score, and Reynolds tried to steal the ball from Townes.  When the Falcons junior guard was unable to reach and recover the basketball in the St. Joe’s backcourt, Ziemba dove to the floor to get possession of the basketball.  A little while  later, Ziemba made a similar play in front of the scorer’s table between the two team benches to prevent another turnover.  On top of that, the 6’9″ center connected on both of his shot attempts.  With the victory, St. Joe’s improved to 27-4 overall on the season, and became not only the GMC first team since Piscataway in 1994 to win a T of C game, but also the first conference school to appear in the T of C final.  Atlantic City finished its season at 30-2.