Wednesday roundup: Woodstown turns to the press in fourth quarter, uses it to fuel big comeback against Steinert
BOYS SCORES
Warrior Classic
Woodstown 53, Steinert 52
New Egypt 36, Pinelands 32
Bayonne Holiday Classic
Charlestown (Mass.) 90, Salem 70
Bayonne 69, West Orange 44
ACIT Holiday Showcase
Camden Tech 48, Salem Tech 42
GCIT 37, ACIT 30
GIRLS SCORES
Boardwalk Classic
Salem 52, Oakcrest 25
ACIT Holiday Showcase
Camden Tech 24, Salem Tech 11
Atlantic Tech 31, GCIT 30
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
NEW EGYPT – Woodstown hasn’t rolled out the press much before Wednesday this season because, quite frankly, coach Phil Campbell wasn’t sure they were comfortable enough to make it work.
The Wolverines pulled it out late in their Warrior Classic opener against Steinert when they absolutely had to make something happen and ran it just like the coach remembers doing it during his high school playing days back in Texas.
The press helped them rally from 12 down with four minutes left and eight down two to go for an unlikely 53-52 victory to remain undefeated. They’ll play host New Egypt for the tournament title today.
Garrett Leyman’s putback and one with eight seconds left gave the Wolverines (3-0) their first lead of the game and Rocco String sealed it when he stole a skip pass with 1.5 seconds to go.
“It kind of reminded me of our opening game last year where we were down like that against Pitman and came back and beat them by one to start the season,” Campbell said. “I think this is a little bit better one.”
It was all about the adjustment they made at halftime to set up the man press and the way everyone who got on the floor played a part in making it work. They plugged it in with about four minutes left trailing 52-40 and it was so suffocating the Spartans (0-5) never scored again.
“I had a lot of faith,” Leyman said. “We just started being really aggressive, got some turnovers, started hitting our shots, doing what we knew we could. We just kept saying keep fighting. We know with our brand of basketball we know we could come back, and we did.”
It produced a couple steals right off the bat and Blake Bialecki, Alejandro Vazquez and Leyman all hit 3s to make it even more effective.
With time running out and his team down 2, Leyman picked up a loose rebound just outside the lane and confidently hit a short jumper and was fouled. His and-one gave Woodstown the lead.
The Wolverines still had two fouls to give and took them. The Spartans tried to get the ball in but couldn’t find an opening and String stepped in make the game-sealing steal.
“We pressed some last year and got away from it because the guys just were struggling to understand exactly how I wanted it to go and it got a little sloppy,” Campbell said. “This year we waited to reimplement the press. For the last week or so we’ve been slowly putting it back in, talking about we might need to press some people.
“I talked to (senior captain) Max Webb about it towards the end of the third quarter and it was like we weren’t quite there yet and I was like I agree, I’m thinking about when we need to put it in. There were about three or four minutes left and he looked over at me and I was like, yeah, it’s time. We put it in and they (Steinert) just didn’t know what to do with it.”
When Campbell was playing high school ball in Texas, his Abilene High School team pressed from the minute it got off the bus and regularly scored 100 points in a game. Even as well as Woodstown’s version worked against the Spartans, the Wolverines won’t use it that much going forward, but when they do find the ‘opportune moments’ to put it in motion Campbell will expect it to be run properly and productively.
Their defense this year has been strong without it. They didn’t press against Schalick and had 19 steals. They didn’t press Cumberland and won the turnover and rebounding battle while holding their opponent to an ice-cold percentage from the field.
Leyman was Woodstown’s leading scorer with 13 points, but the Wolverines spread the wealth. Vazquez, with three 3s, and M.J. Hall each scored nine points. Webb and String had eight apiece. String also had five blocked shots and three steals. One of Vazquez’ 3s was a half-court bomb that beat the second-quarter horn and sent the Wolverines into the half down seven instead of 10.
“Garrett had a great game overall, with 13 points he’s definitely the X factor,” Campbell said. “But everybody contributed … If it wasn’t for some great plays from Max, great shots from guys like Blake and Alejandro and M.J., some great defensive plays from M.J. and Rocco, we don’t get that win. It was definitely a team effort. Everybody who hit the court made a positive contribution towards getting that team win.”
WOODSTOWN 53, STEINERT 52
STEINERT (0-5) – Avery Cannato 4 1-2 11, Joseph Lee 2 0-0 5, Logan Kaboski 0 0-0 0, Mert Yilmaz 3 0-2 6, Ryan Leach 1 0-0 2, Walter Connor 1 0-0 2, Joseph Ditta 4 0-0 11, Jon Weaver 0 0-0 0, Cameron Popso 5 4-4 15. Totals 20 5-8 52.
WOODSTOWN (3-0) – Blake Bialecki 1 1-2 4, Alejandro Vazquez 3 0-2 9, M.J. Hall 3 2-5 9, Garrett Leyman 5 2-3 13, Anthony Bokolas 1 0-0 2, Max Webb 3 2-3 8, Rocco String 4 0-0 8, Elijah Caesar 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 7-15 53.
| Steinert | 16 | 14 | 11 | 11 – | 52 |
| Woodstown | 10 | 13 | 13 | 17 – | 53 |
ACIT Holiday Showcase
CAMDEN TECH 48, SALEM TECH 42: The Chargers cut an seven-point fourth-quarter deficit to one with two minutes to go, but Camden Tech came back down and scored and Salem Tech didn’t have an answer. When the Chargers started fouling to stop the clock, the Warriors made their free throws down the stretch.
Evan Brummel hit three 3-pointers and led Camden Tech with 15 points. Salem Tech’s Antoine Robinson led all scorers with 18 points.
CAMDEN TECH (3-1) – Frankie Clas 0 0-0 0, Salvatore Algeri 2 1-2 6, Isaiah Haynes 0 2-4 2, Alex Ojeda 1 0-0 3, Evan Brummel 6 0-1 15, Jamal Sosa 1 0-0 3, Mehki Harper 0 0-2 0, Elijah Franks 3 1-2 7, Charles Banour 2 3-4 7, Shareef Cox 1 3-8 5. Totals 16 10-23 48.
SALEM TECH (0-5) – Antoine Robinson 8 0-0 18, Chase Wills 1 0-2 2, Josh Muntz 2 5-5 10, Haneef Frisby 4 1-4 9, Joseph Hayes 0 1-4 1, Gio Holmes 0 0-0 0, Daviontae Russell 1 0-0 2, Charlie Brown 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 7-15 42.
| Camden Tech | 14 | 8 | 11 | 15 – | 48 |
| Salem Tech | 9 | 7 | 10 | 16 – | 42 |
Girls Games
Boardwalk Classic
SALEM 52, OAKCREST 25: QwenNasha Logan had a triple double – 10 points, 11 rebounds and 15 blocked shots –.to help the Rams collect their first win of the season. She had 15 blocked shots in the first three games of the season.
SALEM 52, OAKCREST 25
OAKCREST (1-3) – Zeriena Buckle 0 0-0 0, Aliyah Cause 4 0-0 8, Anastasia Lisojo 1 0-0 2, Natalyah Mikulak 0 0-0 0, Atrirah Mitchell 5 1-6 11, Aminah Mullins 1 2-4 4. Totals 11 3-10 25.
SALEM (1-3) – QwenNasha Logan 5 0-0 10, Ava Rodgers 4 0-0 8, Ryann Foote 3 2-4 8, Ameriyona Hunter 3 0-0 6, Carlysia Pierce 1 1-2 3, Kaela Nichols 3 3-4 9, Marrissa Bower 2 0-2 8, Naveah Hickman 2 0-0 4, Zaniyah Frieson 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 6-12 52.
| Oakcrest | 4 | 6 | 7 | 8 – | 25 |
| Salem | 10 | 12 | 12 | 18 – | 52 |
Riverview Sports News 