Lady Bulldogs win three straight, run mark to 13-5

Girls basketball

By: Matt Nalbone
   Now is the time of the year that brings out the best in The Pennington School’s boys basketball team.
   With their regular season complete at 9-15, the sixth-seeded Red Raiders hosted 11th-seeded Lakewood Prep in the opening round of the Prep B state tournament Wednesday.
   The winner of that game advances to Saturday’s quarterfinals and a 6 p.m. date at third-seeded Newark Academy. Solomon Schechter earned the top seed, and Morristown Beard is seeded second.
   Although Pennington has been either a No. 1 or No. 2 seed each of the past three seasons, veteran Red Raiders coach Bernie Gurick believes the seedings reflect where the teams belong.
   "Solomon Schechter deserves to be seeded No. 1," Gurick said. "With our record, we deserved the sixth seed. This is a very balanced Prep B group this year, and I truly believe it’s a wide open tournament."
   Opponents might be lulled into a sense of overlooking the Red Raiders because of their sub-.500 mark, but people in this area know that tournament time is when Pennington is at the top of its game. The Red Raiders won back-to-back state titles in 2000 and 2001 and lost in the finals last season.
   Gurick is looking forward to knocking off some of the higher seeds and taking a deep ride into the Prep B bracket.
   "I think we have a shot at doing very well in the tournament," he said. "The guys are playing really well. Nobody expected us to have nine wins."
   Pennington had an extra bit of incentive going into Wednesday’s game against Lakewood Prep.
   "If we beat Lakewood, that would be 14 years in a row with 10 or more wins," Gurick said. "I don’t know of any Mercer County team that has done that."
   As is always the case with a Gurick-coached team, defense will be key for the Red Raiders in the tournament.
   "We scrimmaged Lakewood, so we know what they are capable of," Gurick said. "If we play defense, we should be O.K. and advance. If not, our season will end on Wednesday."
   If Pennington gets that 10th victory, Newark Academy will be waiting. The two teams have not met this season.
   "Newark Academy is a very good outside-shooting team," Gurick said. "All five starters can hit the 3-pointer. We will play them man-to-man to make it tough for them to set up their offense."
   The Red Raiders closed out the regular season Monday at home with a 71-30 loss to Hun. Junior guard Fernando Cardenas had nine points, and senior forward Muhammad Siddiqu (averaging 15.8 points per game) added eight.
   "We were just overmatched (against Hun)," Gurick said. "Hun is a very big, athletic and strong team. We couldn’t go with them."
   Pennington topped Granville Charter 61-59 on Saturday, as sophomore forward Will Lo topped all scorers with a career-high 20 points, including six 3-pointers. Siddiqu added 12, as the Red Raiders fired in 11 3-pointers.
   "Neither team played good defense," Gurick said. "It came down to a shoot-out.
   "This was an important game for us. The guys needed to bounce back and have a good game. The guys were still drained from the Hopewell game."
   Ah, yes, the Hopewell game.
   The Red Raiders lost to Hopewell Valley 69-67 in overtime Feb. 6. Siddiqu had 18 points and six assists, Cardenas had 18 points and nine rebounds, junior center Kenny Love added 12 points and senior guard Jess Morrison had six points and 11 rebounds.
   "This is one of the best high school games I’ve ever been involved in," Gurick said. "It was a packed house and a great atmosphere for basketball."
   Hopewell Valley sent the game into overtime, when sophomore center Brendan Rutledge tapped in a missed Bulldog shot at the buzzer, tying the score at 57-57. Pennington was just 3-for-9 from the free-throw line in the final 1:50 of regulation and went 17-for-34 for the game.
   "HoVal did a great job of coming back," Gurick said. "We didn’t shoot foul shots well down the stretch. We shouldn’t have been in that position to need free throws to win the game.
   "I told the guys after the game, this will make us better for the Prep B tournament. You learn from adversity."