Koroma, Morris, and Garbolino Lead Raiders Past Mustangs in Play-In Round
NORTH BRUNSWICK, NJ—After graduating the likes of Jabri Fitzpatrick (Patrick School National) and 1,000 point scorer, Donovan Crawford (Quality Academy Prep), North Brunswick has underwent a rebuild this season, but there is some promise for next season.
Leading 28th seeded JFK 34-24 at halftime, the 21st seeded Raiders outscored the Mustangs by a margin of 26-21 in the second half to pull away for a 60-45 victory to advance to the GMCT Preliminary Round against 12th seeded J.P. Stevens on Tuesday.
Freshman guard, Tommy Koroma is beginning to come into his own for North Brunswick. Koroma scored a game high 21 points including a three pointer to lead the Raiders while senior forward, Ian Morris chipped in with 16 including four threes. Three point standout junior, Frankie Garbolino added 13 points while younger brother Jack, another freshman, contributed with 5.
Kennedy was led by senior guard, and top returning player from a year ago, Calvin Claiborne, who scored a team high 14 points while sophomore center, Victor Torres chipped in with 7, and football standout, Josiah Garcia added 6. The Mustangs had eight different players score while North Brunswick had six. However, three Raiders scored in double figures while only one got double digits for the Mustangs.
The Raiders enjoyed a 40-36 edge in points scored from within the arc while J.F. Kennedy had a 6-5 edge in points scored from the foul line. One of the keys to victory for North Brunswick was its 15-3 advantage in points scored from long distance as Koroma and Morris combined to connect five times from beyond the arc.
North Brunswick outscored Kennedy in three of the four quarters, but the Raiders set the tone for the rest of the game by putting together a 21-10 showing in the first quarter to open things up. The win marked the third time North Brunswick has defeated J.F. Kennedy this season. The other two wins were on January 6th in Iselin (66-41) and in North Brunswick on February 1st (52-34).
With the victory, North Brunswick improved to 8-15 overall on the season after starting the year with five straight losses. The Raiders also raised their conference record to 7-13 on the year. Meanwhile, J.F. Kennedy fell to 1-16 overall and 1-15 in the GMC with the loss. North Brunswick travels to North Edison to play 12th seeded J.P. Stevens on Tuesday afternoon, February 15th at 4:15 PM.