Second Half Rally Not Enough for EB Knights
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| An East Brunswick Knights player fires up a three pointer over the outstretched hand of a Calvary Christian defender in the second half of Saturday night’s MJBL Spring League game at the Central Jersey Basketball facility in Morganville. Calvary Christian won the game, 50-43. |
MORGANVILLE, NJ–Records can be deceiving. Coming into this crossover contest in the 2016 MJBL Spring League at the Central Jersey Basketball facility, the East Brunswick Knights led the MJBL South Division with a 5-1 record while Calvary Christian was toward the back of the pack in the West Division at 2-4. However, during the course of Saturday night’s contest, the Lions showed that they were much better than their record indicated.
Calvary Christian jumped out to a 9-4 lead within the first seven minutes of the game, and then after the East Brunswick Knights tied the game at 13-13 with 5:07 left in the first half, it closed the half with six of the last eight points and added the first four points of the second half to highlight an 18-7 surge for a 31-20 lead with 13:31 remaining. EB, which was led by Ryan Cumber, rallied to pull within four late at 44-40, but couldn’t get any closer as the Lions of Calvary Christian hung on for a 50-43 win.
The EB Knights managed to hang around throughout much of the contest thanks to the three point shot. Cumber had a few threes while his teammate Gambino added one toward the end and there were a couple from other players. However, Calvary Christian, based in Old Bridge, attacked the middle of the Knights defense for jumpers in the paint, and that opened things up for the Lions. Calvary Christian did a very good job of working the ball around, and the tremendous ball movement led to good shots.
Calvary jumped out to a 9-4 lead despite a layup by Cumber to pull within one. The Lions got two layups to go back up by five with 13:14 remaining in the half. Cumber then added another layup off a steal, and went 3 of 4 from the line to highlight a 9-4 rally by the EB Knights over a span of 8:07 to tie things up at 13-13 with 5:07 to play in the half. Calvary Christian then closed out the half by scoring 6 of the last 8 points despite not getting a long made three off before the buzzer, and led 19-15 at the intermission. The Lions then scored the first four points of the second half in just 48 seconds for a 23-15 lead at the 19:12 mark.
The Lions then extended their lead two double figures by scoring 8 of the next 13 points over a span of 5:41 by using good ball movement to get jumpers in the middle of the paint, and scoring in transition for a 31-20 lead at the 13:31 mark. The Knights began to battle back with a 9-0 run that was highlighted by a score by Jack Donahue and a transition layup by Cumber to pull within two, but Calvary responded by scoring 6 of the next 9 points for a 37-32 lead with 8:15 remaining. The only points for EB during the stretch was a three from Cumber. The Knights kept battling to get closer but the Lions managed to keep them at a distance.
Gambino helped East Brunswick pull within four by banking in a jumper from just inside the arc on the right side, and then banking home a contested three from the top of the key to make the score 44-40 at the 4:17 left. However, Calvary Christian replied by scoring the next four points on a jumper in the middle of the paint, and an easy layup for a 48-40 lead with 49.6 seconds remaining. Cumber then hit a deep three from well beyond the arc on the left wing to pull the Knights within five, but it was too little, too late as Calvary finished the game’s scoring with a putback, and then ran out the clock for the 50-43 victory.
With the victory, Calvary Christian pulled to within a game of .500 in the MJBL’s West Division at 3-4 while the East Brunswick Knights dropped their second game of the season and are now 5-2. The Lions take a bit of a break before playing its final regular season game on June 16 against Team Gaffney White on the MSC Yellow Court at 8:05 PM while the EB Knights also finish their regular season against Team Gaffney White on June 13th at 7:05 PM.