South River @ J.F. Kennedy–January 3, 2008

JFK Edges South River, 49-45

ISELIN, NJ–There is nothing else much to say about Saturday’s game against the Mustangs of J.F. Kennedy other than it was a game that the Rams should have and could have won.

After playing a great first quarter and taking a 15-12 lead, South River gave it all back and more as the Mustangs outscored the Rams 16-7 to take a six point lead at the half.

With Kennedy standout, Joe Marciano (15 points and 9 rebounds) resting on the bench for the early part of the second quarter, the opportunity was there for South River to take advantage and open up a bigger lead. However, the Rams couldn’t seize the moment because they didn’t care of the basketball, made mental mistakes, had poor shot selection, and committed unnecessary fouls. Whatever positives there were for South River in the first quarter quickly evaporated as the Rams suddenly couldn’t buy a basket and were continually shooting themselves in the foot.

South River played a better third quarter but only managed to cut two points off of JFK’s lead and were still trailing 37-33.

With Shawn Fenton (5 points and 11 rebounds) and Ed Tompkins on the bench midway through the fourth quarter after fouling out, the Rams put together a good run to slice the Mustang lead to one after Kennedy had built up a lead as big as nine points early in the final stanza. However, JFK kept answering back, and putting South River at arm’s length from the lead.

The Rams’ Brandon Walsh (team high 20 points) hit a 3-pointer in the closing minutes to cut the JFK lead down to two points. But there were some questionable shot selections by South River along with a questionable free throw attempt with under a minute left that may have made the difference for the Rams, but they were all moot points as the Mustangs held on for the win to improve to 2-3 overall on the season, and 2-0 in Blue Division play. Rasheed Howard led JFK with 16 points and 8 rebounds.

South River, which also got 10 points from sophomore Xavier Foster, dropped to 2-4 on the season and they next face Metuchen Tuesday night – a 7PM start at Metuchen.

Team 1 2 3 4 Total
J.F. Kennedy (2-3) 12 16 9 12 49
South River (2-4) 15 7 11 12 45