South Brunswick senior guard, Kalani Antoine elevates for one of his five three pointers on the game in the first half against North Brunswick in the 2023 NJSIAA Central Jersey Group 4 Quarterfinals in North Brunswick on Thursday. Antoine finished with a game high 31 points as the Vikings advanced, 72-46.
South Brunswick Senior Guard Scores 1,000th Point En Route to Game High 31 in Win over North Brunswick
NORTH BRUNSWICK, NJ – For the second time this season, South Brunswick faced North Brunswick at North Brunswick High School. Back in December, North Brunswick got a statement win over the Vikings in the Brunswick Classic.
However, as the Raiders and Vikings entered their NJSIAA Central Jersey Group 4 Quarterfinal match-up, the tables had turned somewhat as South Brunswick is riding a huge wave of momentum following its 2023 GMCT run.
Playing a tough early season schedule with the likes of top ranked St. Thomas Aquinas, then 2nd ranked Colonia, and 3rd ranked St. Joseph’s, South Brunswick was 4-4 after its first eight games including a 65-60 loss to North Brunswick on December 29th. Since then, the 6th seeded Vikings have won 14 of their last 16 including a 61-35 victory over 11th seeded Old Bridge in the opening round.
Meanwhile, North Brunswick, which reached the GMCT Elite Eight for the first time since 2014, had won 20 of its first 23 games of the season including a 50-45 victory at eventual GMC White Division champion, South Plainfield on January 14th, and two victories over Old Bridge with the latter helping to punch a ticket to the Quarterfinals at Middlesex College. However, the 80-58 defeat at the hands of South River in the Elite Eight kicked off a three game losing streak heading into the state tournament.
Then, in the opening round of the CJ Group 4 Tourney on Tuesday, the 3rd seeded Raiders had their hands full with 14th seeded Princeton, a team they had beaten on the road, 65-54 nearly a month earlier on January 23rd. North Brunswick trailed 54-51 with 47.7 seconds to play. Princeton then missed the front end of a one and one, and after a Raiders score closed the gap to 54-53, the Little Tigers missed both ends of a double bonus with 23.3 seconds remaining in regulation.
Unable to put North Brunswick away, Princeton would give way to the Raiders as sophomore guard, Tommy Koroma found junior Brandon McCain with 7 seconds to play for the 55-54 victory, and a date with South Brunswick in the sectional quarterfinals. So, at the outset of this state tourney contest, it appeared that the 3rd seeded Raiders and 6th seeded Vikings were heading in opposite directions.
The start of the game would confirm that as South Brunswick rode the hot hand of senior guard Kalani Antoine and the continued solid play of both fellow classmate Harmehar Chhabra and junior forward Daniel Swirad to a 20-5 first quarter lead, and a 47-18 halftime advantage. The 6th seeded Vikings then led by as many as 30 points in the second half en route to a 72-46 victory and a berth in the sectional semifinals for the third time in the past 4 years.
Antoine scored 17 points in the first half including the 1,000th of his career in the first half, and added another 14 over the final two periods for a game high 31 points along with 3 rebounds, 2 steals, an assist, and a block.
Chhabra was just one assist shy of a triple-double with 11 points, 11 boards, and 9 assists as well as 2 blocks. Swirad also had a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds along with an assist as he continues his tremendous post-season.
Arshvir Singh, who along with Antoine, played another game of superb defense with a stout effort on North Brunswick’s Alana Ajigbotosho, also contributed offensively with 7 points, 2 rebounds, an assist, and a steal.
Nitish Raj (3 points), Bruce Muniz (2 points, a rebound, and an assist), Jayden Muniz (2 points, a rebound, an assist, and a steal), John Rappoccio (2 points and a rebound), and Om Patel (2 points and a rebound) rounded out the SBHS scoring.
Also playing in the game for South Brunswick was Ayush Sankaran (a rebound) and Kaden Antoine (an assist). McCain, the hero of the Raiders first round win, led the way in a losing cause with a game high double-double of 15 points and 12 boards as he along with South Brunswick’s Swirad, are among the most improved in the GMC in 2022-23. Ajigbotosho, who got into foul trouble early in the contest, finished with 8 points, 6 rebounds, an assist, and a block. Ajigbotosho finished his career with 845 points.
Richard Hill knocked in two triples for 6 points along with 2 rebounds, an assist, and a steal. Sophomore Jack Garbolino chipped in with 5 points and 2 blocks. Koroma and junior Jurmire Jones each added 4 points, a rebound, and an assist while Koroma also picked up a steal.
Andrew Koprowski (2 points) and Juwel Hoagland (2 points and a rebound) rounded out the scoring for North Brunswick. Three sport star Frank Garbolino (a rebound, assist, and a block) also played in his final game, and finished his career with 477 points.
Each team outscored the other in two of the four periods played. However, South Brunswick scored over 20 points in each of its first two quarters while North Brunswick only outscored the Vikings by three points in the final two periods.
SBHS outscored NBTHS by a margin of 21-9 from long distance, 36-26 from inside the arc, and 15-11 from the foul line in the contest. The Vikings were just 15 of 25 for 60 percent from the charity stripe while the Raiders were 11 of 15 for 73.3 percent.
South Brunswick also outrebounded North Brunswick by a margin of 32-24, and had more assists (15-5) and more steals (4-3). North Brunswick had the edge in blocked shots (5-3). For the game, Kalani Antoine connected on 11 total field goals including 5 three pointers while sinking 4 of 5 from the line. Chhabra, who has accounted for 18 of his team’s 28 assists (64.2 percent), so far in the state tourney, connected on 3 field goals and 5 of 7 from the line for his 11 points.
Swirad, who has now scored 128 of his 239 points this season in the last 9 games, recorded his 8 double digit scoring effort during that stretch. Prior to that, Swirad, who only scored 29 points as a sophomore, only scored in double figures three times prior to this post-season run. The junior forward made 5 field goals and 2 made free throws for his dozen. McCain clicked on 6 field goals and 3 of 4 from the line for North Brunswick.
The Vikings opened the game with two scores by Antoine off feeds by Chhabra including one off a back door cut for a 4-0 lead at the 6:34 mark of the first. Following a 30 second timeout by North Brunswick, the Vikes went back to work with 7 of the next 10 points including a three by Singh, and another layup by Antoine for an 11-3 lead with 3:02 remaining in the first. Following another Raiders timeout, South Brunswick scored 11 of the last 13 points of the opening frame including a Swirad putback in the closing seconds for a 22-5 lead.
It was more of the same at the start of the second period as South Brunswick opened the frame with a 10-5 spurt including two threes and two FTs by Antoine for a 32-10 advantage at the 5:37 mark. In just the first 10:23 of the contest, Antoine already had over half of his points on the game at 16. After another North Brunswick timeout, SBHS closed out the first half on a 15-8 spurt capped by a bucket from Swirad off a jump pass by Chhabra for a 47-18 lead at the intermission.
The third period began with South Brunswick picking up where it left off In the first half as Antoine added another three at the 3:34 mark for a 55-26 lead. The Vikings had led by 30 early on in the period at 50-20. North Brunswick, which ended the third with 10 of the last 17 points, scored 5 of the last 7 in the final 3:34 of the frame including a bucket by Ajigbotosho to close the gap to 57-30 heading into the final quarter.
The fourth period was another even stanza as the Raiders, which had a 12-10 edge in the third, outscored the Vikings by a 16-15 margin. Ajigbotosho had five points in the frame including a three while McCain added a putback, and Hill banked in a trey from the left side.
Jayden Muniz helped provide South Brunswick a 67-39 lead at the 3:29 mark of the fourth as he swiped a steal, and took it all the way to the hoop for a layup and his only points of the game. Raj added a three and Patel added a bucket late in the game to round out the 72-46 final score.
With the victory, South Brunswick improved to 19-6 overall on the season and advanced to the sectional semifinals on Saturday. The Vikings also got a nice surprise when 7th seeded Marlboro defeated 2nd seeded Freehold Township (55-42) in its quarterfinal match-up. As a result, the 6th seeded Vikings got a home game as it will host the Mustangs in the CJ Group 4 Final Four in Monmouth Junction at noon on Saturday.
North Brunswick concluded its season at 21-7. The Raiders finished the year with 4 losses in their 5 games. Nevertheless, Raider Nation still has a lot to be proud of. In addition to its first GMCT Elite Eight berth in 8 years, the Raiders improved its win total by 13 games over a year ago while decreasing its losses by over 50 percent. The 2022-23 season was the first 20 win season for North Brunswick boys basketball in 10 years. It was also the most wins by a Raider team since the 2011-12 season when the school reached the GMCT Final.