Guvs Fall Behind Early and Unable to Overcome Titans
SOUTH AMBOY, NJ—After not playing during the first full week of the season due to COVID protocols, South Amboy finally had the opportunity to begin its season in its own holiday tournament on Monday. Unfortunately for the Guvs, Middlesex, a replacement for another COVID casualty, Henry Hudson, wasn’t so kind in a 68-35 win. Keansburg wouldn’t be any more hospitable as it jumped out to an early lead en route to a 74-59 victory.
The Titans scored 23 of the first 35 points of the game, and then swished a three pointer from the right wing by Jaheim Hill (team high 19 points) just before the first quarter buzzer for a 26-12 lead heading into the second. Keansburg then opened the next period with 7 straight points to take a 33-12 lead before South Amboy finally started to show some signs of life.
Brandon Gasiewski, who had a game high 24 points including 7 three pointers in the loss, got his only two point basket in the game as he drove to the basket in transition, and put up a runner over two Keansburg defenders to make it a 33-14 Titans lead with 3:33 to play in the first half. Gasiewski’s bucket sparked a 10-5 rally that included two threes from Jianny Caraballo (8 points) and a layup by Anthony Vella (13 points) to close the gap to 38-22 at the intermission.
At the onset of the third quarter, Keansburg continued to become stagnant on offense, but while South Amboy was able to chip into the deficit further, it still wasn’t fully able to take advantage as it missed shots and made turnovers. Nevertheless, the Guvs opened the second half with 9 of the first 11 points on threes from Gasiewski and Jake Rinkus to pull within single digits at 40-31 with 3:54 left in the frame.
With South Amboy shooting itself in the foot, and unable to get any closer, Keansburg was able to get itself back on track and reassert its control over the game for good by scoring 8 of the next 10 points for a 48-33 lead with 13.2 seconds to play in the third period. The only bright spot during this 3:41 span was a steal for a layup by Caraballo with 36 seconds remaining in the stanza.
Keansburg opened the final quarter by outscoring South Amboy 11-9 over the first 3:24 of the fourth for a 59-42 advantage despite a putback from Anthony Vella with 4:36 left for the Guvs. The Titans added another score before Gasiewski pumped in back to back threes to bring South Amboy back to within 15 at 63-48 at the 3:04 remaining.
The two teams continued to pile up the points over the final several minutes as South Amboy matched Keansburg point for point with Gasiewski firing in another three late in the contest to help round out the 74-59 final score. Vella led the Guvs in rebounding with 9 of the team’s 25 boards while Gio Pepe (5 points, 3 assists, and a rebound), Jake Eberle (4 points, 3 assists, and 2 rebounds), and Aiden Pelkey (2 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists) shared team high in assists with 3.
Eight players got into the game for South Amboy with seven breaking into the scoring column. Keansburg had only six players score, but four of them scored in double figures led by Hill. Michael Alonso chipped in with 18 points while Andrew Valle added 14 and Na’Sun Lee contributed with 11. The Guvs scored 36 of their 59 points from beyond the arc.
With the loss, South Amboy dropped to 0-2 on the season while Keansburg got its first victory of the young season, and improved to 1-3. The Guvs are scheduled to return to GMC Gold competition next week with games against Piscataway Tech on January 3rd and and Perth Amboy Tech on January 7th at 5:30 in South Amboy, and a road game at Somerset Tech on January 5th at 5:30 PM.