Sean Darrar Compiles Double-Double To Lead Rams Past Tigers
| South River’s Sean Darrar fires in a three pointer in the 3rd quarter against Timothy Christian. |
SOUTH RIVER, NJ–Last year, both South River and Timothy Christian had superb seasons where the Rams reached the semifinals of the Central Jersey Group I state tournament while the Tigers won their first ever division title in boys basketball since joining the GMC. Â Early on this year though, both teams are looking up in the Gold Division standings at Dunellen, Perth Amboy Tech, and Piscataway Tech. Â South River is trying to get back up to .500 while TCS is still looking for its first win.
The Rams played like the better team today. Â Despite getting off to a slow start shooting the basketball, South River was still able to garner a 17-9 lead midway through the first half despite a three by Timothy Christian’s Josh Decker by forcing the Tigers to commit a ton of turnovers against the its zone press. Â It was just a matter of time before South River was going to get going offensively and put the game away. Â The Rams outscored TCS by a 13-5 margin over the final 3:45 of the second period as Mario Nigro scored 9 of his 11 points on three trifectas, and South River was able to extend its lead to 30-14 at the break.
Then, in the third quarter, the Rams went back to work making it very difficult for Timothy Christian to get into a rhythm offensively when the Tigers were able to get the ball over halfcourt. Â South River took advantage by scoring 13 of the first 15 points of the third including a baseline drive from the left side for a layup by Maurice Lawrence at the 5:49 mark, a three from the left side by Sean Darrar, a layup by Cyrus Byrd off a steal and assist by Antonio Martinez, and then a steal for a layup by Zach Torres for a 43-16 lead midway through the period. Â The Rams ended up outscoring TCS by a 28-9 margin in the third quarter to take a commanding 58-23 lead, and got the edge in the fourth quarter with a 17-12 showing for the 75-35 victory.
Darrar, who had entered the game averaging 25.7 points per game to lead the state of New Jersey according to the latest tabulations from NJ.com, collected a double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds. Â Zach Torres, a transfer from Woodbridge, who has made an immediate impact by being third in the state in assists per game, did more scoring in this contest with 15 points. Â Will Clemons had 8 points and 8 rebounds in a losing cause for the Tigers while Pierce Kokosinski added 8 points as well. Â Over the last 19:45 of the contest, South River outscored Timothy Christian by a margin of 58-26. Â The Rams held a 23-10 advantage in two point field goals, a 24-9 edge in points scored from beyond the arc, and a 7-6 edge in free throws made. Â South River also had more rebounds (38-29), assists (24-7), steals (19-5), and blocks (8-0).
Eleven different players got into the scorebook for South River while Timothy Christian had 7 players score. Â The Rams outscored the Tigers in each period. With the victory, South River improved to 4-4 overall including a 3-2 mark in the Gold Division. Â Meanwhile, Timothy Christian dropped to 0-9 overall on the season including a 0-6 mark in divisional play.