Astarita, Santiago, Kudelka Lead the Way for Jayhawks in Victory
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| Bishop Ahr’s Sean Kudelka shown here taking a shot against New Brunswick at the Odie Page Summer League on Thursday night, was back at it again with the Central Jersey Jayhawks at the Raritan Bay Summer League on Friday night. Kudelka along with Sayreville’s Derek Astarita and Ahr teammate, Alex Santiago led a team effort in a 62-28 win over EB Tech. |
SOUTH AMBOY, NJ–During the course of the regular season, and even during the summer, Bishop Ahr has been led mostly by the duo of Sean Kudelka and Alex Santiago. The Central Jersey Jayhawks, which consists of players from Ahr, J.P. Stevens, and Sayreville has been led by not only Santiago and Kudelka, but also Derek Astarita, who has stepped up his game offensively.
In Friday’s game against East Brunswick Tech though, the Jayhawks came up with a total team effort that included contributions from the likes of an improving Kieran Hodder, Jack Roarty, Alex Guketlov, and Eric Sokolowski. Ryan O’Leary also chipped in with good defense and unselfish play as well. The result was a dominant performance against East Brunswick Tech in a 62-28 victory.
The Tigers of EB Tech scored 5 of the first 7 points including a score off the opening tip, but the Jayhawks put together a 15-1 tear that gave them control the rest of the way in this contest. Roarty, the son of Colonia head football coach, Tom Roarty, sparked the run with a layup underneath, but then Astarita capped the run with a steal for a layup to put the Jayhawks ahead for good at 7-5 with 17:03 to play in the first half.
Dylan Stratton, who was a bright spot in defeat for EB Tech, made one of two from the line to pull the Tigers within one, but the Jayhawks scored the next eight points including a putback by Kudelka at the 11:14 mark, and layups by Astarita and Santiago for a 15-6 lead with 9:34 remaining in the opening half. The Central Jersey Jayhawks didn’t stop there as they scored 5 of the next 7 points over the ensuing 2:24 including a three pointer from the right wing by Astarita at the 7:10 mark for a 20-8 lead.
Astarita then netted two free throws after being fouled at the 6:46 mark, and Guketlov scored on a layup at the 5:04 mark to push the Jayhawks advantage up to 15 points at 26-11. Sokolowski followed up with a score before Guketlov pulled up for a jumper from the right wing off the break for a 30-11 Jayhawks lead with 3:46 remaining in the first half. The Central Jayhawks finished the period by scoring the last seven points for a 26 point halftime lead.
The superb finish to the half by the Jayhawks consisted of one of two from the line by Astarita at the 2:26 mark, a floater by Santiago at the 1:07 mark, a bucket from the right low block by Roarty with 20 seconds left, and a layup off a steal by Guketlov with two seconds to go for a 37-11 lead at the half. East Brunswick Tech tried to show some life at the start of the second half thanks to Stratton who pulled up for a couple deep threes to highlight a 6-2 run that closed the gap to 39-17 with 17:45 to go.
The Jayhawks and Tigers scored five points each over the next 3:44 as Stratton hit another three, and handed out an assist on a layup to make the score 44-22 in favor of the Jayhawks as the Jayhawks called for time with 14:01 left in the contest. Following the timeout, the Central Jersey Jayhawks became energized, and scored 7 of the next 9 points including layups by Santiago and Astarita, and a three from the left corner by Astarita off a kick out by Sokolowski for a 51-24 lead with 11:47 remaining.
Both teams then traded baskets over the next 1:25 before the Jayhawks scored 5 of 7 points including another score down low by Roarty, and a three from the left wing by Guketlov that made the score 58-28 with 4:34 left. The Jayhawks then finished off the lopsided win by scoring the last four points including another basket by Roarty for the 62-28 win. The Jayhawks were back in action during the 7:30 PM hour at Raritan Bay on Friday night with a match-up against Roselle.