Penns Grove finally pulls out close game, edges Woodstown to snap five-game losing streak; Salem slams Salem Tech, shorthanded Pennsville beats Schalick in OT
TUESDAY’S BOYS GAMES
Pennsville 42, Schalick 37
Penns Grove 47, Woodstown 42
Salem 83, Salem Tech 41
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
PENNS GROVE – That Penns Grove won a basketball game for the first time in two weeks was cause enough for celebration in the locker room after it was over, but the way it won the game might have been the most welcoming news of all.
The Red Devils snapped a five-game losing streak – their longest slide in seven years – Tuesday night with a 47-42 win over Tri-County Diamond Division rival Woodstown. They did it by outscoring the Wolverines 7-2 over the final minute and hitting five of six free throws down the stretch.
Exactly a week ago they lost a game they were leading by three with less than a minute to go.
“We needed it bad,” Penns Grove coach Damian Ware said. “The five-game losing streak was really rough. To get this win today against a good Woodstown team is very important for us. It gives us confidence.
“The guys work so hard and it hurts when you have those close losses because you want the kids to have success. I want them to have the success and feel the success because they work for it.”
Now, teams win games with late runs all the day, but if you knew anything about the Red Devils’ recent history, you knew endgame scenarios haven’t been kind to them.
The losses on the front and back ends of the five-game losing streak were hopeless blowouts, but in each of the three in the middle – in a span of four days – they had legitimate chances to win and couldn’t finish.
They lost at Clearview on a steal and layup with 12 seconds left and missed two shots to win or tie it. They got beat at home by Glassboro on a buzzer-beater 3 in a game they were leading by three with a minute left. And then they lost at home to Wildwood in overtime when they just ran out of gas.
“I think the fact of winning a close game that came down to when it was winning time (was the big thing),” Ware said. “I tell the kids all the time the thing with winning and losing is it’s one possession here or there. Everything has to be solid.
“You can’t try to be fancy because that one possession could be the one that we needed at the end of the game. I try to make them value every single possession and we’re starting to get to that point.”
Neither team would let the other get too far ahead. The way they were going after it defensively, a six-point lead felt like it was a lot bigger than it actually was.
Early in the game Rocco String gave the Wolverines an edge with his commanding inside presence. But soon both he and Max Webb would be in foul trouble and sat most of the second quarter. Penns Grove’s Mr Peterson was there to take advantage of the opening and command the respect his name demands.
Peterson had six points and two rebounds in an 11-2 run that gave the Red Devils the lead early in the quarter. The Wolverines followed with their own rally to cut Penns Grove’s halftime lead to 20-19. It stayed close like that the rest of the game.
“Tonight was all about playing harder than I did last night,” Peterson said, referring to the Red Devils’ 40-point to Salem. “So, I came out and did it. To be honest, it felt good.”
With the game tied at 40, Penns Grove guard KaRon Ceaser made a basket around String and then stole the inbounds pass like a defensive back. He got it to Mekhi Ballard who was fouled and hit the first two of his four free throws with 41 seconds left to give the Red Devils a four-point lead.
“Coach called the press and I got the middle,” Ceaser said. “It’s like playing safety in football, so I just reacted when the ball was in the air. I had to go get it and make a play.”
“The last couple days at practice we’ve been doing situationals,” Ware said. “I think we’re starting to understand what it takes at the end of games to win, especially when we’re in these close games. I’m glad we got one today.”
“It feels like we just broke the spell, so we’re just going to keep winning from here on,” Mekhi Ballard said.
Woodstown’s Garrett Leyman converted a crisp pass from Alejandro Vazquez into a layup to make it 44-42 with 25 seconds left. The Wolverines called time to set up their end game, then came out of the break and fouled Ballard in the backcourt. The Red Devils’ guard, the player Ware wants at the line down the stretch of a close game, made those two to make it 46-42.
The Wolverines missed three shots to get closer – 3-pointers by Blake Bialecki and Webb and a wild turnaround jumper in the lane by Connor Sanderson – then fouled Willie Slocum on the defensive rebound. Slocum made one of two for the final margin.
The Red Devils were 7-of-10 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter. They were 6-for-10 in the first three, usually making the first and missing the second.
“I remember going to the line thinking I’ve got to make these free throws if we want to win this game,” Ballard said. “I think in the clutch we come through as a team and we end up making our free throws.
“Sometimes in the beginning of the game we start off real shaky. In the beginning of the game I don’t think we really try as hard to make our free throws as at the end of the game. When it’s time to win the game I think we come through as a team and make our free throws.”
While it may be debatable just how good a win it was for the Red Devils, there’s no denying it was a bad loss to for the Wolverines.
Woodstown is currently one of the bubble teams in the South Jersey Group I power points standings. The Wolverines went into the game as the only team between No. 10 and the bottom (No. 23) with a winning overall record, but they were No. 15 in the standings.
PENNS GROVE 47, WOODSTOWN 42
WOODSTOWN (8-6) – Manny Ortega 0 0-0 0, Blake Bialecki 3 1-2 8, Alejandro Vazquez 1 0-0 2, M.J. Hall 4 0-0 8, Connor Sanderson 0 0-0 0, Garrett Leyman 3 0-0 6, Anthony Bokolas 1 0-0 2, Max Webb 1 1-2 3, Rocco String 5 0-0 10, Elijah Caesar 1 0-0 3. Totals 19 2-4 42.
PENNS GROVE (6-11) – Roman Gipson 0 0-0 0, Giomar Conrad 7 0-0 16, KaRon Ceaser 1 4-10 6, Willie Slocum 1 3-4 5, Mekhi Ballard 3 4-4 12, Camron Thompson 0 0-0 0, Khiry Higgs 0 2-2 2, Mr Peterson 3 0-0 6. Totals 15 13-20 47.
| Woodstown | 9 | 10 | 10 | 13 – | 42 |
| Penns Grove | 6 | 14 | 13 | 14 – | 47 |
SALEM 83, SALEM TECH 41: One night after senior Anthony Farmer became the latest member of the school’s 1,000-point club and they nearly turned over the scoreboard, the Rams poured it on again. They opened a a 60-15 halftime lead and cruised to their fourth straight win and 13th in a row over Salem County competition.
Freshman Tymear Lecator led three Salem scorers in double figures with 19 points. Jabez DeJesus had 11 and Davonte Jackson doubled his season output with a career-high 10, and four other Rams had at least eight points. Farmer saw limited action after scoring 36 points in each of his previous two games.
Salem has won four in a row.
SALEM 83, SALEM TECH 41
SALEM TECH (1-14) – Chase Wills 3 0-0 7, Haneef Frisby 3 2-6 8, Joseph Hayes 4 1-2 9, Daviontae Russell 1 0-0 2, Tyler Zampino 3 0-0 6, Antoine Robinson 3 3-5 9, Gio Holmes 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 6-13 41.
SALEM (11-6) – Anthony Farmer 0 0-0 0, Donovan Weathers 1 0-0 2, Ramaji Bundy 3 0-0 6, Jabez DeJesus 4 0-1 11, Paul Weathers 2 3-4 8, Tymear Lecator 8 0-0 19, Xavier McGriff 3 0-0 8, Antwone Rogers 4 1-2 9, Marshall Stephens 4 0-0 8, Joseph Tunis 1 0-0 2, Davante Jackson 4 0-0 10. Totals 34 4-6 83.
| Salem Tech | 11 | 4 | 15 | 11 – | 41 |
| Salem | 32 | 28 | 12 | 11 – | 83 |
PENNSVILLE 42, SCHALICK 37 (OT): The Eagles were down three starters and had only eight varsity players available, but found enough within themselves to win for the second night in a row, this time in overtime.
Jayden Thomas, Danny Saulin and Malik Rehmer all missed the game for various reasons and probably won’t be available when the Eagles go to Woodstown Thursday. Coach Joe Mecholsky pulled up two junior varsity players to make sure he had two full units
The Eagles led most of the game, but fell behind 30-29 with 1:47 left before Cohen Petrutz put them back on top with a 3-pointer.
Schalick’s Danny Lis’ tip-in off a missed 3 with 4.8 seconds left tied the game at 33. The Eagles had a shot to win it in regulation and got what they wanted with Petrutz driving the lane. There was contact, but no foul and the game went to overtime.
Petrutz and Mason O’Brien gave the Eagles the lead in overtime and their defense did the rest.
“When you give up 36 points you’ve done something right,” Mecholsky said.
Peyton O’Brien led the Eagles with 13 points. Petrutz had 12. Luke Wood had all nine of his points in the fourth quarter and overtime.
Reggie Allen led Schalick with 13 points – all in the second half – and Lis had 12.
“To be shorthanded and to pull through the adversity will make us tougher for the stretch run,” Mecholsky said.
PENNSVILLE 41, SCHALICK 37 (OT)
SCHALICK (5-9) – Reggie Allen 5 0-4 13, Levi Feeney-Childers 1 1-2 3, Dan Lis 6 0-0 12, Nylan Sutton 3 0-2 7, Nasir Sutton 0 0-0 0, Jake Siedlecki 0 0-0 0, Ryan Johnson 0 0-0 0, Dylan Sheehan 1 0-2 2, Jase Volovar 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 1-10 37.
PENNSVILLE (8-10) – Luke Wood 2 5-5 9, Peyton O’Brien 6 1-4 13, Cohen Petrutz 5 1-2 12, Mason O’Brien 2 0-0 4, Connor Starn 1 0-0 3, Cole Johnston 0 0-0 0, Carlos Merendino 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 7-11 41.
| Schalick | 6 | 6 | 8 | 14 | 4 – | 37 |
| Pennsville | 8 | 6 | 7 | 11 | 8 – | 41 |
Tri-County Conference
| CLASSIC | ALL | DIV | DIAMOND | ALL | DIV |
| Pitman | 14-4 | 6-0 | Overbrook | 13-5 | 6-1 |
| Gloucester Cath. | 10-7 | 5-3 | Glassboro | 8-10 | 5-2 |
| Salem | 11-6 | 4-3 | Penns Grove | 6-11 | 4-2 |
| Wildwood | 11-7 | 4-3 | Woodstown | 8-6 | 3-4 |
| Clayton | 3-14 | 1-5 | Pennsville | 8-10 | 2-5 |
| Salem Tech | 1-14 | 0-6 | Schalick | 5-9 | 0-6 |
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