Dawgs need one victory

Boys basketball

By: Mike Molaro
   The Hopewell Valley Central High School boys basketball needs one win to qualify for the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Central Jersey Group II tournament.
   Unfortunately for the Bulldogs (7-5 overall, 5-4 in the Colonial Valley Conference), they are still looking for that one victory to put them over the hump and into the postseason.
   Hopewell Valley fell to Ewing 67-62 at home Tuesday, and, on Friday, dropped a 46-36 decision at West Windsor-Plainsboro South.
   With the Feb. 8 cutoff approaching, the Bulldogs need to defeat Notre Dame Thursday or Hamilton next Tuesday to receive the state tournament bid.
   Senior forward Brett Reese poured in a game-high 34 points against the Blue Devils, and sophomore guard Jeff Molinelli added 21, including 17 in the second half. Hopewell Valley was missing starting forward Saphish Naadimuthu, a junior, senior guard Jeff DiNatale and junior forward Keith Balerno due to illness.
   "Ewing was blowing us out early, but we made a nice comeback," Bulldogs coach Tony Mormile said. "We ran out of gas at the end, especially Brett (Reese) and Jeff (Molinelli).
   "Brett (Reese) has been playing extremely well for us. Ewing led 29-10 at one point, but we cut the lead to eight (37-29) at halftime.
   "We led by four at one point in the fourth quarter, but Ewing took it to us. We couldn’t get a big stop when we needed it."
   Against the Pirates, Reese had a game-high 19 points, sophomore center Brendan Rutledge had 10 and Molinelli contributed seven to account for the Bulldogs offense. Hopewell Valley was missing three players as its three-game winning streak was snapped.
   "We struggled offensively in this game (against WW-PS)," Mormile said. "We shot less than 30 percent from the field, and you aren’t going to win many games that way."