Pennsville, Penns Grove extended to multiple overtimes in losses, Woodstown gives Roots his first coaching win in OT
FRIDAY’S BOYS GAMES
Buena 72, Pennsville 70 (3 OT)
Marty Derer Showcase, Delsea
Delsea 53, Penns Grove 51 (2 OT)
Westampton Tech 50, Salem 45
West Deptford Holiday Tournament
At RiverWinds Community Center
Consolation: Lindenwold def. Schalick
Championship: Absegami 82, West Deptford 41
ACIT Holiday Tournament
Camden Tech 60, Salem Tech 14
Atlantic Tech 57, GCIT 38
Warrior Holiday Classic
At New Egypt
Woodstown 51, Pinelands 46 (OT)
New Egypt 48, Steinert 46
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
BUENA – There was so much to dissect from the game, Pennsville basketball coach Joe Mecholsky is going to need a day or two and a long session in the film room to get back to you on just what the heck happened.
The Eagles lost to Buena 72-70 in three overtimes Friday in a game that had as many moving parts as Mecholsky has ever been around. And he’s been in a triple overtime game before.
They were down 14 early in the fourth quarter and forced overtime. They were up five in each of the first two overtimes, but couldn’t close it out. They were down in the third overtime and got close before time ran out on them.
“I feel like we blew the game instead of we lost it,” Mecholsky said. “I think I stopped coaching offense at one point. We tried to take the air out of the ball and I think that really killed our offensive momentum, so I’ll go back and watch the game over again and see how I can get better.
“I’m not going to say my young players did or didn’t do anything. They’re a very young team and they did everything they were told today and I’ll just have to look at the film and see how I can get better in nailing down that win when we were up five in the second overtime.”
The Eagles were down 14 (38-24) with 6:30 left in regulation and put on a charge to force overtime. Mason O’Brien’s 3-point play with 34 seconds left tied it at 41. The Eagles had the final shot in regulation. Shiloh Jefferson’s initial shot hit off the rim and Jovanni Rios couldn’t get the tap to fall.
They had five-point leads in each of the first two overtimes, but never had the lead in the third.
They were up five with 2:35 left in the first overtime, but Buena’s Troy Gregory buried a 3-pointer at the buzzer to tie it at 49. It was the first trey Troy had made all season.
They were up five twice in the second overtime, with 2:43 and 2:20 left, but Buena got back-to-back left corner 3s from Nate Nieves and Carlo Spreng to take the lead, 57-56. Nieves finished with 12 points and Spreng had 10. Teammate Josue Cuadrado led all scorers with 23 points.
A free throw by David Knight with seven seconds left tied it at 59. Knight went to the line for two shots and the lead, but only hit one and it stayed that way despite the teams having three combined chances to get the game-winner. Knight came in off the bench as a substitute shooter after Logan Hitt was fouled hard after stealing the inbounds pass and had to leave the floor.
The Eagles got a chance to win it at the end when the Chiefs stepped on the line trying to put the ball in play. The Chiefs got the ball back when Pennsville turned it over and this time Knight stole the inbounds pass to end the session.
“I’ve been in some crazy basketball environments,” Pennsville sophomore guard C.J. McDevitt said, “but triple overtime? I’ve never been in a triple OT game, I’ll tell you that.”
“It was pretty crazy,” Chiefs coach James Bell said. “I just kept telling my kids to keep their minds straight and focus on what we need to do, play solid defense and hit the open shots when we have them. It was a crazy second half and three overtimes.”
Buena looked like it was finally going to put it away, leading by seven with 52 seconds left in the third overtime, pulling away with a 3-pointer by Nieves and three free throws by Cuadrado, but Pennsville battled back again. O’Brien hit a 3 to make it 70-66 with 28 seconds left and Knight and Jefferson wrapped putbacks around a pair of Buena free throws to make it 72-70 with eight seconds to go.
On the last play of the game the Eagles got the ball to O’Brien, who pushed a shot towards the basket at the buzzer that hit off the far iron. The Eagles were looking for a foul as O’Brien hit the deck, but there was no call and the game was over.
“I told my boys the outcome is the result of a thousand little things that happened in that game and that’s just the way it goes; we’ll learn from it,” Mecholsky said. “I’m disappointed we lost the game, but my boys didn’t disappointment me.”
O’Brien apologized to his coach for his play in the first three quarters, but he was a gamer in the fourth quarter and overtimes. He scored all 19 of his points after the third quarter, hitting three 3s and a three-point play in the fourth quarter comeback and seven points in the overtimes.
“The first three quarters were awful,” he said. “I didn’t know where I was. I was trying to find my game and they kept talking to me so I had to do something about it. I came out and matched their energy in the fourth quarter and overtimes.”
Rios added 14 points on his 17th birthday for Pennsville and McDevitt had 11. Both are career highs.
PENNSVILLE (1-3) – Danny Knight 3 2-6 9, Jovanni Rios 7 0-3 14, Mason O’Brien 7 1-1 19, Cole Johnston 1 2-2 4, Shiloh Jefferson 3 0-0 6, Perry Meranti 3 0-0 6, Logan Hitt 0 1-2 1, C.J. McDevitt 2 7-14 11. Totals 26 13-28 70.
BUENA (2-3) – Josue Cuadrado 6 10-12 23, Carlo Spreng 4 0-2 10, Nate Nieves 3 3-4 12, Troy Gregory 1 1-2 4, Jaevon Alexander 3 0-0 8, Jayden Rivera 0 0-0 0, Shamel Rivera 5 0-0 10, Richie Wilson 0 0-0 0, Ricky Bessix 2 1-6 5. Totals 24 15-26 72.
| Pennsville | 9 | 6 | 7 | 19 | 8 | 10 | 11- | 70 |
| Buena | 5 | 13 | 13 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 13- | 72 |
3-point goals: Pennsville 5 (Knight, O’Brien 4); Buena 9 (Cuadrado, Spreng 2, Nieves 3, Gregory, Alexander 2). Technical fouls: S. Rivera. Fouled out: S. Rivera, Alexander, Rios, McDevitt). Total fouls: Pennsville 22, Buena 25.
DELSEA 53, PENNS GROVE 51: By Penns Grove coach Damian Ware’s best measure, his team had three chances to win the Marty Derer Showcase opener, but host Delsea kept coming up with clutch shots and eventually broke the Red Devils’ heart.
The Crusaders hit 3-pointers at the end of regulation and the first overtime to extend the game, then hit two free throws in the closing seconds of the second overtime to seal the victory. Jimmy Reardon hit the 3 at the end of regulation to force overtime, then Jelani Poles beat the buzzer with one at the end of the first extra period to keep it going and he hit two free throws with 3.4 seconds left to win it.
Poles finished with 12 points. Reardon had nine. Luke VanAuken had a huge game for Delsea with 19 points and 20 rebounds. Brandin Robbins and Roman Gipson had 15 points apiece for Penns Grove.
The Red Devils had a chance to take the lead in the second overtime, but missed two free throws. Moments later they fouled Poles and he hit his two free throws. The Red Devils rallied from eight down in regulation to take a three-point lead into the closing seconds before Reardon hit his 3.
“We had a chance, we had three chances to win it – regulation, overtime and the second overtime,” Ware said. “That’s part of our growing pains. We’re young and we’re inexperienced so this is going to be a growing lesson for us. We’re going to be fine but this is just a lesson we had to learn of how to finish games.
“We did everything we were supposed to do, we made the plays, but down the stretch we just didn’t make the defensive plays and that’s kind of what we pride ourselves on. We’ve got to be better on defense at the end of the game and regulation and challenge shots better.”
PENNS GROVE (1-2) – Brandin Robbins 5 4-4 15, Roman Gipson 6 0-0 15, Karon Ceaser 2 1-2 6, Antoine Robinson 3 0-2 7, Haneef Frisbee 2 0-0 4, Jameel Horace 0 2-2 2, Luis Colon 1 0-0 2, William Roy 0 0-0 0, Geonni Conrad 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 7-10 51.
DELSEA (2-2) – Luke VanAuken 8 3-8 19, Jimmy Reardon 4 0-0 9, Jelani Poles 4 2-2 12, Blake Bottino 2 2-2 6, Jeadyn Greene 1 0-0 2, Dahmir Hart 1 0-0 2, Exodus DeJesus 1 0-0 3, Ryan Casiano 0 0-0 0, Mike Cunningham 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 7-12 53.
| Penns Grove | 12 | 7 | 7 | 20 | 3 | 2– | 51 |
| Delsea | 13 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 3 | 4- | 53 |
3-point goals: Penns Grove 6 (Robbins, Gipson 3, Ceaser, Robinson); Delsea 4 (Reardon, Poles 2, DeJesus). Rebounds: Delsea 37 (VanAuken 20).
WOODSTOWN 51, PINELANDS 46: Blake Bialecki hit a season-high five 3-pointers and scored 23 points as the Wolverines held off Pinelands in the Warrior Holiday Classic in overtime to give new coach Ramon Roots his first victory as a varsity head coach.
“It’s exciting for me to get the first win in the standings, but I’m just really happy for the kids,” Roots said. “I’ve been waiting to get the win and knew it was going to come sooner or later. We definitely had a lot of chances in the Penns Grove game. It was good to see them believing that they actually can win and what it takes to win.”
The Wolverines (1-2) outscored Pinelands 9-4 in the extra session to win it. Garrett Leyman hit two free throws to put them up three and then Rocco String closed it out with a layup. String scored eight points and dominated the paint with 12 rebounds and nine blocked shots.
Woodstown led by eight in the second half, but Pinelands got back in it through a series of backdoor buckets. The Wildcats went up by three with two minutes to play, but Bialecki hit a 3 to retie the game.
Pinelands had a chance to retake the lead with 12 seconds left but missed two free throws. Bialecki had a shot to win it in regulation but his mid-range jumper went in and out.
“We were able to get a little breathing room, but it was close to the very end,” Roots said. “We just kept fighting. As you’ve seen the team never gives up. They’re always fighting through it.”
Bialecki’s 23 points matches the second-best game of his career. In addition to his outside shot, the junior also also got to the basket and went 6-of-8 from the free throw line.
The Wolverines will play host New Egypt for the championship 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
| Woodstown (1-2) | 15 | 7 | 12 | 8 | 9- | 51 |
| Pinelands (2-2) | 17 | 6 | 6 | 13 | 4- | 46 |
WESTHAMPTON TECH 50, SALEM 45: West Tech used a big third quarter to take the lead and kept the Rams at arms length in the fourth quarter. Alexander Jeanty hit five 3-pointers and scored a game-high 22 points to lead the Panthers. Xavier McGriff led Salem with 14 points. Tymear Lecator filled the boxscore with 11 points, six assists and two steals.
WESTHAMPTON TECH (3-0) – Alexander Jeanty 8 1-1 22, Henry Hjoga 0 5-6 5, Dante Horace 1 0-2 2, Dalan Dickerson 2 1-2 6, Shakur Anderson 4 1-2 9, Damien Moragne 0 0-0 0, Jacob McCollum 2 0-0 4, Jevon Benjamin 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 8-13 50
SALEM (3-1) – Tymear Lecator 3 3-6 11, Antwan Rogers 3 0-2 6, Deshaan Williams 0 6-6 6, Xavier McGriff 5 1-1 14, Neziah Spencer 1 1-2 3, Donovan Weathers 0 0-0 0, Darrelle Johnson 1 0-0 2, Kyaire Parsons 0 0-0 0Harlem Parsons 0 0-0 0, Cole Sayers 0 0-0 0, Joe Tunis 1 0-0 3. Totals 14 11-17 45.
| Westhampton Tech | 14 | 8 | 19 | 9- | 50 |
| Salem | 15 | 11 | 10 | 9- | 45 |
CAMDEN TECH 60, SALEM TECH 14: Salvatore Algeri scored 13 points and Shareef Cox had 10 to lead the Warriors in the ACIT Holiday Showcase. Salem Tech will play GCIT in the consolation game Saturday.
| Camden Tech (2-2) | 18 | 26 | 5 | 11- | 60 |
| Salem Tech (0-5) | 2 | 6 | 1 | 5- | 14 |
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