Knights Unable to Overcome Fourth Quarter Deficit in Huskies Classic
MATAWAN, NJ—Rebounding with a solid 78-44 win over 8th seeded Matawan in a consolation round game at the 2021 Matawan Huskies Classic on Tuesday, Old Bridge was looking to claim fifth place in the holiday tourney against Hamilton West. The Hornets, seeded 6th in the tourney after replacing Bayonne, defeated Carteret (52-29) in another consolation. The Knights came up short in their quest in a 52-46 loss.
Playing a tough defense that didn’t give the Knights offense easy looks at their patented three point shots, Hamilton West was able to grind out the hard fought, six point victory. Old Bridge, which entered the game averaging nearly 73 points per game in the tournament, was held to 27 points below that average. Nevertheless, the Knights had their chances to pull out the victory.
With senior guard Jayden St. Rose attacking the basket for layups and soaring for putbacks, and underclassmen guards Adam Scire and Krishi Patel knocking down threes, the Knights were able to close within four points on a couple occasions late, but couldn’t get any closer. St. Rose finished the contest with a team high 13 points while Patel, a freshman, chipped in with 12 points.
Scire added 8 points while another freshman, Noah Balbuena added 5 points and senior Miles Sala contributed with 4. Donavin Domine and Tyler Barber shared team high honors for the Hornets with 13 points while teammate Maurice Williams, a football standout, who caught 4 passes for 64 yards and a touchdown in an 18-13 loss at Monroe on September 17th, chipped in with 11.
Although the Knights outscored the Hornets by a margin of 15-9 from long distance, they were edged 24-20 in points scored inside the arc, and even more importantly, lost the battle at the free throw line, 19-11. Domine also contributed with 7 rebounds and 3 assists while Ellis Jeremy played a key role on the defensive end while collecting 4 points, 7 rebounds, 4 blocks, a steal, and an assist.
Williams scored all of his points from the charity stripe as he combined with Domine (6 points on FTs) for 17 of Hamilton West’s 19 points from the line. Both teams had seven different players break into the scoring column, but the Hornets had three score in double figures while also having a fourth player, Ben Boufford, score 7 points while also picking up 2 rebounds, 2 steals, and an assist.
Old Bridge had a 22-21 lead when GMC Hoops arrived early on in the third quarter after watching Sayreville play Red Bank at the Buc Classic in Red Bank. Hamilton then scored the next five points including a trey from the right corner from Domine for a 26-22 advantage with 3:55 left in the third. The Knights closed the gap to 28-24 with 40.5 seconds to play in the third after St. Rose slashed his way into the paint for a layup.
Unfortunately, the Knights were never able to overcome that four point deficit. Each time Old Bridge got the lead down to four, it would either give up a score to the Hornets, or was unable to make that crucial shot to trim the deficit further. Hamilton scored the final points of the third to take a 30-24 lead into the fourth, and then began the final stanza by matching the Knights bucket for bucket over the first 3:13.
St. Rose did his best to keep Old Bridge within striking distance including another drive down the right lane for a left handed reverse layup that made the score 36-30 in favor of Hamilton West with 4:47 remaining in regulation. He then added a putback off a tremendous leaping effort for another score while Sala knifed in from the right wing into the paint for another layup that pulled the Knights within four again at 41-37 with 2:05 left.
Despite a late score from freshman, Brandon Medel, who dribbled in for a foul line jumper in the closing seconds, Hamilton West was able to preserve the victory by outscoring the Knights by a margin of 11-9 down the stretch as both Williams and Domine salted away the 52-46 victory with free throws. Losing 2 of 3 at Matawan, Old Bridge ends 2021 at 2-4 overall.
The Knights are scheduled to return to GMC Red play on Tuesday night, January 4th with a 6:00 PM game versus Perth Amboy at home followed by a game on the road at Piscataway on Thursday, January 6th. Old Bridge is then slated to finish the week with another home game against New Brunswick on Saturday morning at 11:30 AM.