Getting it started

Salem County basketball teams go into first scrimmages with high expectations; Woodstown girls win in new coach’s debut, Pennsville boys fall, but remain optimistic

TUESDAY SCRIMMAGES 
Girls
Schalick at Cumberland Christian
Woodstown 61, Gateway 33
Haddon Twp. at Penns Grove
Boys
Gateway at Woodstown
Triton 72, Pennsville 50

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PENNSVILLE – The Golden Years have arrived in the Pennsville basketball program.

That’s what coach Joe Mecholsky calls these next two seasons, the next 50 games or so for his core group that has been together as freshmen and sophomores and now will be together as juniors and seniors going forward.

The start of the Golden Years didn’t start too well as the Eagles dropped their first scrimmage of the season Tuesday 72-50 to Group III Triton, but even with the results of the day they remain optimistic for the road ahead.

For the Eagles it’s all about those eight Diamond Division games they play later in the year. They won more games last season (10) than they won in the previous 2 1/2 seasons combined and made the Group I playoffs for the first time since their last 10-win season (2016), but that’s just the start of their progression. Next on their list of firsts is winning a division title, winning a playoff game and whatever comes after that.

“This is my golden generation,” Mecholsky said. “They were six sophomores last year, they were six juniors now and then we’re going to be six seniors next year, so we’re really focusing on these next 50 games rewriting the ledger and see if we can’t (make some history).

“Nothing less than a division champions, a division championship and making a deep run in South Jersey Group I. That’s our focus, anything less than that is … well, let the season play out and see what anything less than that is. If we make a run, that’d be great, but we’ve got to hang and division banner up in this gym. We’ve got the guys to do it.”

The Eagles looked good in spurts Tuesday. They opened a quick lead behind Cohen Petrutz’ hot 3-point shooting and then, after falling behind under the weight of their substitution patterns, climbed back to within seven early in the fourth quarter.

“It felt like a 50-50 game,” Mecholsky said. “The score didn’t indicate that but when you’re making subs in a scrimmage we throw the score out and we look at our defensive intensity and our rebounding. We had a lot of guys huffin’ and puffin’ out there so we gotta still work on our conditioning, but it’s coming together.”

The Eagles should look sharper when Luke Wood gets back on the floor. The junior point guard, who likely will reach the 1,000-point milestone before the calendar turns over, missed the scrimmage, but should return when the Eagles scrimmage Paulsboro Thursday.

“It’ll definitely make us better,” Petrutz said. “He’s a (big) part of our team. Missing him hurts us a lot. When he’s back it’ll make us even better.”

Petrutz hit three 3s in the first quarter, had six in the game and finished with a game-high 22 points. “I’ve been waiting all day for this,” he said.

Chase Birchfield, another junior, gives the Eagles another 3-point threat. Six-seven Daniel Saulin gives them size inside and Brooklyn-born transfer Jayden Thomas, who got a longer look with Wood unavailable, gives them a dimension they haven’t in a while.

“We’re on our way up,” Mecholsky said. “Everything is leading towards those eight big division games we have.”

TRITON 72, PENNSVILLE 50
TRITON (72) – Leo Impoliazzo 8 0-0 18, Talen Walsh 3 6-6 14, Jayon Sanders-Cash 2 1-3 7, Major Tomco 0 0-2 0, Richie Kosma 2 0-0 6, Mike Campbell 0 0-0 0, Justice Avery 4 0-0 7, Yandel Santos 2 2-2 6, Kasir Baker 2 0-0 4, Josiah Grant 1 0-0 2. Totals 24 9-13 72
PENNSVILLE (50) – Cohen Petrutz 8 0-0 22, Chase Birchfield 2 0-0 5, Daniel Saulin 3 2-2 8, Peyton O’Brien 0 0-0 0, Malik Rehmer 0 0-0 0, Jayden Thomas 4 1-5 10, Carlo Merendino 0 0-0 0, Tyree Young 0 0-0 0, Mason O’Brien 1 0-0 2, Logan Hitt 1 0-0 3. Totals 20 3-7 50.

Triton	17	22	13	20 –	72
Pennsville	15	11	16	8 –	50

Girls

Good start for Straughn

WOODBURY HEIGHTS – Sure, it didn’t count in the standings, but it was new Woodstown coach Kara Straughn’s first game under real conditions and she admittedly was nervous.

Straughn inherited a veteran team that has high expectations and they were still getting to know each other, and in that there were unknowns. She sent them on the floor for the first time Tuesday and it couldn’t have gone better for all concerned.

The Wolverines jumped out to a big first-quarter lead, held their hosts without a field goal into the second quarter and put their top three returning scorers in double figures while routing Gateway 61-33.

“I was nervous,” Straughn said. “Just kind of like that anticipation of all right we practiced and practiced and practiced, now let’s see if we can execute in a real situation.

“Me being a first-time head coach we’ve got all these ‘did we do enough, did we go over this enough,’ all the little things.”

Straughn changed the defense in the transition, putting Talia Battavio and Megan Donelson at the top so they can get out and run, and it produced 16 steals in the game and a 27-2 first-quarter lead. Battavio had 13 of her 20 points in the first with Donelson scoring 10 of her game-high 25. Donelson had five steals in the game, while three other players each had three.

Shannon Pierman had 10 points, 12 rebounds and a blocked shot, sixth-man Lauren Hengel had five points and eight rebounds, and Alyssa Baber, back after missing last season following ACL surgery, didn’t score but had four rebounds in two quarters of varsity action.

“It makes me feel a little better and kind of got the ball rolling for them that hey we can do this,” Straughn said. “It was a good first kind-of-like introduction to a real life situation.”

WOODSTOWN 61, GATEWAY 33
WOODSTOWN (61) – Talia Battavio 8 3-4 20, Alyssa Baber 0 0-0 0, Megan Donelson 11 0-0 25, Shannon Pierman 5 0-0 10, Gianna Maiorini 0 1-2 1, Lauren Hengel 2 1-4 5, Brae DiGregorio 0 0-0 0. Totals 26 5-10 61.
GATEWAY (33) – Angelina Zagone 8 3-3 21, Bella Fini 4 4-5 12, Gabby Gasis 0 0-0 0, Tabby Bay 0 0-0 0, Sydney Hughes 0 0-0 0, Rachael Summers 0 0-0 0, Maggie Eliasen 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 7-8 33.

Woodstown	27	8	9	17 –	61
Gateway	2	7	16	8 –	33