Braves Make Most of 2nd Chance Opportunities to Defeat Knights in Huskies Classic
MATAWAN, NJ—On Monday afternoon, GMC Hoops returned to action in the midst of this latest COVID surge to see the Old Bridge Knights for the first time this season. The Knights were in action in their usual holiday tourney venue at the Matawan Huskies Classic, where they took on another annual participant in this holiday tourney, Manalapan.
Playing without the services of forward Nate Johnson, Old Bridge struggled on the boards against the Braves, who took advantage of multiple second chance opportunities on the offensive glass to pull away from a 50-43 late third quarter lead for a 77-67 victory in the opening round. The Knights, which were ranked 9th in the latest GMC Hoops Top Ten, demonstrated plenty of offensive firepower, especially from beyond the arc.
Led by the efforts of guards Adam Scire (17 points and 3 treys) and freshman Krish Patel (17 points and 5 threes), the Knights sank 10 three pointers for the game. Scire and Patel shared team high with 17 while senior guard, Jaden St. Rose chipped in with 14. Manalapan’s Gabe Blackwell led all scorers with a game high 33 points while Mike Bimonte added 13 and Michael Cerreto chipped in with 10.
Old Bridge outscored Manalapan from beyond the arc by a margin of 30-12, but the Braves made up for it with a two to one edge in two point baskets (24-12) and a 17-13 edge from the foul line. Many of those 24 two point field goals came as a result of Manalapan’s work on the offensive glass. The Knights began the game on the wrong foot as the Braves scored the first five points, and led 7-2 early on.
However, Old Bridge responded with a 20-6 surge that carried over into the early moments of the second as Patel knocked down a couple treys and Scire struck for one. Patel, who made a huge impression for Old Bridge with his play at the Middlesex JV Summer League this past off-season, first sank a trey at the 4:22 mark and then again late in the period to give the Knights a 16-13 lead.
Scire added a three with 3:57 to go in the first while St. Rose drove around from the left wing to the right lane for a layup and a 20-13 lead with 6:36 remaining in the 2nd. Following a Manalapan timeout, Old Bridge scored again in transition for its largest lead of the game as it capped its biggest surge of the game. The Braves wouldn’t be held down for long though.
Over the final 6 minutes or so of the second quarter, Manalpan, led by the trio of Blackwell, Bimonte, and Cerreto, charged back with a 22-6 surge of its own including an and one with 6.4 seconds to play in the first half for a 35-28 lead at the intermission. The Braves picked up right where it left off at the start of the 3rd quarter by scoring five straight points, and 12 of the first 18 for a 47-34 lead.
Sparked by a three from football standout, Brady Cavallaro at the 3:49 mark, Old Bridge rallied with a 9-3 spurt over the next two and a half minutes. Patel and Scire added treys that helped close the gap to 50-43. Unfortunately, the Knights were unable to get any closer. Manalapan ended the frame by reeling off the final seven points including a putback following a steal with 10 seconds left for a 57-43 heading to the fourth.
Led by the play of Arnesh Bhadauriya, who got a bucket and two free throws at the start of the final period, Old Bridge was able to trim the deficit back down to single digits, but Manalpan pushed its advantage back to a baker’s dozen with six straight points including a score with 4:07 left for a 63-50 lead. The Knights battled until the end though.
Deploying some pressure, the Knights were able to force some turnovers that produced layups including one by Scire that closed the gap to 70-59 with 1:57 to play, but they were unable to crack single digits again. Danny Singleton closed out the Old Bridge scoring with a three from the left wing as time was running round out the 77-67 final score.
With the loss, Old Bridge falls to 1-3 overall on the season, and will play Matawan in the consolation round of the Matawan Huskies Tournament on Tuesday at 12:00 PM. The host school and eighth seeded Huskies fell to top seeded Seton Hall Prep (77-41) in another opening round game. Manalapan (1-2), which won its first game of the season, will face-off against Seton Hall Prep (2-1) in the first of two semis at 3:30 PM.
The Knights did lose quite a bit to graduation with the losses of Lucas Grissett, Peter Gamba (Ramapo), and Chris Wyer, but still have some key players back including St. Rose, Cavallaro, and Johnson as well as a promising group of youngsters such as Scire, Patel, and Singleton. Old Bridge has four freshmen on this year’s roster, and they can all shoot the basketball.
If Old Bridge can take care of the basketball a tiny bit better, and keep their opponents off the offensive glass, it could still cause some trouble in the GMC Red this season.