Patient Rams Make Statement with Road Win Over Falcons
METUCHEN, NJ – Three years ago, South River head coach Brandon Walsh took a young team into its season opener against a top tier St. Thomas Aquinas team with the likes of D1 players like Quadry Adams (Sacramento State) and lost 81-26. On Monday night, Walsh brought much of that same group of then freshmen including Lazaro Rodriguez, Jeremy Grospe, and Kobe Taylor into St. Joseph’s Maglio Gymnasium, and pulled off one of the biggest wins in the GMC in years.
Patience is a virtue they say. Well, 8th ranked South River exemplified it not only in terms of its offensive execution against third ranked St. Joseph’s on Monday night, but also in terms of sticking with it, trusting themselves and their coach, and building a program the right way. In an era of high school sports where the moral of Aesop’s Fable, “The Tortoise and the Hare,” doesn’t carry much weight anymore, the Rams showed it can be done with a 74-66 upset of the Falcons.
Walsh and his Rams finished 2-23 three years ago in the 2019-20 season. Now, they will likely begin 2023 in the GMC Hoops Top Five, and perhaps top three as long as they take care of business in the Keansburg Tournament starting on Wednesday. Once again, it was senior forward Roman Santos leading the way with a team high 20 points while Lazaro Rodriguez collected a double double of 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Sophomore Alex Grospe attacked St. Joe’s pressure for a double-double as well with 14 points and 10 assists along with 4 boards and a steal. Older brother, and senior guard, Jeremy Grospe scored 9 points as he connected on three of South River’s four treys in the contest while also handing out 4 assists, pulling down 2 rebounds, and swiping a steal.
Senior guard Josh Ingram led all scorers with a game high 26 points in defeat for the Falcons while junior Jeremy Clayville chipped in with 14. Owen Griffin added 9 while Dave Caruso contributed with 7. The Falcons had 8 different players get into the scoring column while the Rams had 7, but South River had six of those players with 8 points or more. St. Joseph’s just had four players with 7 points or more.
South River outscored St. Joe’s by a margin of 46-42 within the arc, and 16-4 from the charity stripe. The Falcons held a 24-12 advantage in points scored from long distance. Joes also was only 4 of 9 from the foul line. As a team, the Rams also collected 21 rebounds, 20 assists, 4 steals and a block.
The game went back and forth early on with the Rams actually jumping out to a 15-9 lead before the Falcons responded with 9 unanswered points and an 11-2 spurt to take a 20-17 lead after one. Clayville highlighted the run with a score in transition that put Joes ahead 18-15 with 40 seconds to play in the first.
St. Joseph’s continued to build on the momentum gained towards the end of the first by scoring 6 of the first 8 points of the second for a 26-19 lead including a trey by sophomore Dante Regan. However, South River didn’t fold like many other teams have done against Joes in the early going this year. Instead, the Rams battled back with a 10-3 run to tie the game at 29-29.
Ingram put the Falcons back in front with a three pointer from the left side for a 32-29 lead, but South River fought back again with five of the last 7 points of the second including a traditional three point play from Taylor (8 points, 2 rebounds, and an assist) with 13 seconds left before intermission to tie things up again at 34-34.
The longer South River hung around, the more confident it became, and in the second half it showed with patient offensive execution that often resulted in high percentage shots. Scoring first to begin the second half, South River scored 9 of the first 15 points of the third including a layup by Santos for a 43-40 lead at the 2:40 mark.
The Rams increased that three point lead to seven entering the fourth and final period when Gavin Franco (5 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals) connected on a trey and Taylor struck again for another and one for a 49-42 edge. South River continued to pull away and get separation by outscoring Joes by a 18-12 margin over a 6:29 span of the fourth to take a 67-54 lead with a minute and a half to play.
Highlighting the surge was a score by Alex Grospe as he dribbled in from the right side for a score with 2:56 remaining in the fourth for a 63-54 lead after the Rams broke St. Joseph’s full court pressure. After a Jeremy DeCaro score closed the gap to 11, Ingram struck with back to back threes that pulled the Falcons within six at 68-62. Then, Owen Griffin added a layup with 35.1 seconds to play to close the gap even further for the Falcons at 68-64.
Unfortunately, St. Joseph’s couldn’t get any closer and the Rams then got two pairs of free throws from Santos and a layup in the closing seconds from Isaac Linares (8 points and a rebound) off great unselfish passing by Alex Grospe and Santos to wrap up the amazing eight point shocker. South River outscored St. Joseph’s 40-32 in the second half including a 15-8 showing in the third to begin pulling away.
With the victory, the Rams improve to 4-0 on the season overall and in conference. South River now moves on to play Henry Hudson in the opening round of the Keansburg Tournament on Wednesday morning at 11:00 AM. Meanwhile, St. Joseph’s fell to 3-2 overall on the season including 2-2 mark in the Greater Middlesex Conference. Next scheduled game for the Falcons is a rematch of the 2022 GMCT Quarterfinals when 6th ranked South Plainfield travels to Maglio Gymnasium for a GMC crossover on January 3rd at 7:00 PM.