Bulldogs Close Game on 7-0 Run; Flaherty and Christine Star in Win
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| Metuchen’s Danny Flaherty dribbles the ball late in the second half against Manville. Flaherty scored 8 points to help give the Bulldogs a 16-4 run, and added a couple key scores in the second half to lift Metuchen to a 51-38 victory over the Mustangs at the 2016 Bound Brook Summer League on Wednesday night. |
BOUND BROOK, NJ–Another team from the GMC looking to improve in 2016-17 with a young group of players having a year of experience under their belts, the Metuchen Bulldogs enter the summer at the Bound Brook Summer League with two top players in Danny Flaherty and Thomas Christine that are looking to put together the team’s first winning season in several years. Like Dunellen, the Bulldogs lost veteran players prior to last year, and had a transition season.
After starting the summer with losses to Bound Brook on opening night and Bridgewater-Raritan on June 22nd, the Bulldogs put together a solid week in week three with two victories including a 51-38 decision over Manville in the 7:45 PM game on Wednesday night at the Bound Brook Recreation Center. Metuchen opened the game on a 16-4 run as soon to be senior, Danny Flaherty, scored eight of those points including back to back layups at the 11:47 and 11:32 marks to cap the run. Manville wouldn’t go away though as the Mustangs rallied to eventually pull within five midway through the second half.
Fortunately, for Bulldog fans, Manville was unable to get any closer. Flaherty, Christine, and forward David Weiss had a lot to do with that. Metuchen scored 11 of the last 14 points including seven unanswered down the stretch to wrap up the win by a baker’s dozen. All three players had a score during that run as Weiss scored in the paint on a flatfooted shot with 5:22 left, Flaherty sank a jumper from just to the right of the top of the key at the 2:24 mark, and then Christine wrapped things up with a layup from the right low block with 1:48 remaining for a 48-38 lead.
Christine opened the game with a layup at the 18:47 mark, and also came up with a three point play at the 17:55 mark of the second half to help give Metuchen a 35-20 lead. But, it was Flaherty who sparked the Bulldogs early on as he attacked the basket with reckless abandon. After Manville scored four unanswered points to draw within two at 6-4 at the 15:55 mark, Flaherty got going with a layup at the 14:47 mark for an 8-4 lead. He then added another layup as he was fouled for a 10-4 edge with 14:21 remaining in the first half. Flaherty then followed a score by Weiss with a layup for a 14-4 lead, and then capped the early Metuchen surge with another layup for a 12 point lead with a little over eleven and a half minutes to play in the first half.
After a Manville score ended the Metuchen run, Flaherty got on the board again by scoring on a follow from the right side at the 9:56 mark for an 18-6 lead. The Mustangs kept battling though with a 14-11 showing to end the half as Metuchen stopped attacking the basket while Manville hit a couple threes and got layups at the 7:20 mark and the 35 second mark to pull within single digits at 29-20 going into the intermission. Metuchen appeared to regain control early in the second half by scoring the first three points including Christine’s traditional three point play to take its largest lead of the game, but took its foot off the pedal again on offense while Manville rallied again to make it a game.
Over the next 10 minutes or so, the Mustangs outscored the Bulldogs by a margin of 15-5 to pull within five at 40-35 with 7:15 remaining. Highlighting the run was an 8-2 spurt over a span of 3:35 including two threes to pull Manville within single digits again at 37-28. Then, after Flaherty made a couple of trips to the foul line to make one of two from the charity stripe, the Mustangs scored four of the next five points to cap the surge to close the gap to five. Manville wouldn’t get any closer. Although the Mustangs sank a three to answer Weiss’ score at the 5:22 mark to pull within six 44-38 Metuchen lead, they would never get any closer than five again as Metuchen got key scores from Flaherty and Christine to help wrap up the win.
The victory closed out a perfect week for the Bulldogs, which helped even their record at 2-2 on the summer at Bound Brook. Metuchen will be back in action at the 2016 Bound Brook Summer League after the July 4th holiday with a late afternoon game against undefeated Immaculata on Wednesday, July 6th at 4:45 PM. Then, the Bulldogs have a bye on Monday, July 11th before returning to play again against Ridge at 7:45 PM on Wednesday, July 13th.