Spotswood
GMC Red Division title
Spotswood’s Curry gets 1,000th point in win
over Bishop Ahr
By Warren Rappleyea
Staff Writer
DAWNMARIE SANNWALDT Spotswood High School’s Dave Curry shoots over a Bishop Ahr player to score his 1,000th career point during the Chargers’ win in Spotswood Tuesday night.
With the season nearing the halfway point, the Old Bridge High School boys’ basketball team is 7-4 and tied for first place in the Greater Middlesex Conference Red Division.
The Knights have parlayed a strong offense to overcome a lack of size. Along the way Old Bridge has scored victories over solid teams such as Jackson, Piscataway and South Brunswick.
"We can put four or five players on the floor who can score, and that causes problems for other teams," coach Rocky Knowles said. "Every one of our guys handles the ball well, too, and that’s hard to defend against."
Old Bridge has three players averaging 11 points — seniors Spencer Corbett and Shawn Williams, and junior point guard Eric Woroniecki, who has been invaluable running the attack and playing defense, Knowles said.
In addition, Corbett and Williams have been effective under the hoop, with each averaging seven boards.
Senior Steve Barrela, who averages eight points, is a threat from the outside, and freshman guard Brian Gatson, who averages four points, is doing a good job on both ends of the floor.
Juniors Muktarr Sei and Travis Totka give the Knights quality depth. The speedy Sei usually comes in to guard the opposition’s point man, while Totka plays with grit in the paint.
Old Bridge will also benefit from the return of sophomore guard Tim Lucas, who returns on Friday when the Knights host another team vying for the division title, Perth Amboy.
Additionally, Knowles said the team will get a boost Feb. 1 when Fiche Cuffy, a 6-7 transfer student, becomes eligible.
With the added manpower on the way, the Knights have good reason to be optimistic about the rest of the season.
"If we can get out of January in good shape, I think we can put together a good run in the tournaments," Knowles said. "This team has a lot of potential and they work together well."
The coach noted that Old Bridge also has strong junior varsity and freshman teams.
"We’re very excited about what’s going on in the program, not only this year but down the road," he said. "We have a freshman class that is just outstanding, and we also have a group of solid sophomores, most of whom will be on the varsity next year."
Notes…Tuesday night’s 63-54 win over Bishop Ahr, Edison, was cause for celebration on two fronts for the Spotswood Chargers. The win avenged an opening-night loss, and helped Spotswood (10-2) leap-frog the Trojans in the GMC’s Blue Division standings.
But for Dave Curry, there was also cause for individual celebration as he notched his 1,000th career point in the fourth quarter, helping the Chargers rally past the Trojans to the important division win. Curry needed 23 points coming into the game and got 25, while teammate Jean Georges led Spotswood with 26 points and 10 rebounds.
With the win, Spotswood kept pace with division-leading Cardinal McCarrick, who beat Middlesex 70-42 on Tuesday to improve to 11-2.