Hawks Quickly Register 2nd Victory of the Season With Win Over Tigers
PISCATAWAY, NJ—Some 19 hours after pulling off the biggest upset of opening day action, the Hawks of J.P. Stevens were back on the hardwood as they traveled over to Timothy Christian for a Saturday afternoon GMC Crossover versus the Tigers of the GMC Gold. Despite experiencing a bit of a letdown following its upset of No. 4 South Brunswick, Stevens downed Timothy Christian, 61-45.
Led by the trio of Eli Scott, Isaiah Ramirez, and Elijah Peters, the Hawks jumped out to a 13-5 first quarter lead, pulled away from an 15-11 edge midway through the second quarter by scoring 10 of the last 4 points of the first half, and then outscored the Tigers by a 21-10 margin to take control of the game, and getting the win.
Scott earned a share of game high scoring honors with 15 points for the Hawks including two threes while Ramirez and Peters each added 14 points. Aruko Sarkar chipped in with 9 points while Aditya Thewarker contributed with 6. Freshman Jalen Fleming led the way in defeat for the Tigers with 15 points to share the game high with Scott. Fleming also collected 7 rebounds while teammate James Hayes chipped in with 9 points, 2 assists, and a steal.
Stevens registered its second win of the young season by outscoring TCS from inside the arc by a margin of 38-28, and long distance 15-9. Timothy Christian collected 26 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals, and 2 blocks as a team in the loss. Junior Rakeen King led the Tigers with 8 boards while Fleming collected 7. The Hawks had all 7 of its players score including three that scored in double figures while the Tigers had 7 of its 9 players that got into the game score including one in double figures.
GMC Hoops joined the action with the Hawks leading the Tigers 15-11 with under four minutes to play in the 2nd quarter when Stevens took control of the contest for good. J.P. Stevens ended the second quarter on a 10-4 spurt capped by a last second score from Kevin Kshatriya for his only points of the game, and a 25-15 Hawks lead going into the intermission.
JPS then put together a 21-10 showing in the third behind the play of Ramirez, who scored 8 of his points in the frame including two three pointers to put the Hawks further ahead at 46-25 heading into the fourth quarter. In the final period, Timothy Christian tried to show some signs of life with a 7-3 run over the initial 2:10 of the game highlighted by a three from the left wing by Hayes after a scramble for a loose ball to narrow the deficit to 49-32 with 5:50 remaining.
The Tigers would eventually fall behind by 21 again at 59-38 after a 10-6 run by the Hawks, but then scored 7 straight points including a drive from the right baseline for a layup by Fleming as he was fouled at the 1:11 mark to close the gap to 59-45. Unfortunately, it was too little, too late for TCS as Stevens added another score, and then ran out the clock for the 61-45 victory.
With the victory, Stevens quickly improved to 2-0 on the season, and is scheduled to face Old Bridge next in a GMC Red Clash on Tuesday evening in Old Bridge. Meanwhile, Timothy Christian, which defeated Highland Park (48-31) in another GMC Crossover on opening night, Friday, dropped to 1-1, and is schedule to face South Amboy on Monday night in Piscataway.