By: Rich Fisher
And so ends another winter season for the Cranbury School basketball teams.
The Viking boys stumbled at the end of the year, losing three straight and finishing 4-8 for the season. But coach Jay Gilligan felt the record did not tell the whole story.
"I’m going to miss these 8th-graders, they were a lot of fun and I had a great season with them," Gilligan said. "It’s not always based on wins and losses. It’s based on improvement. They were enjoyable to be with.
"They never gave up in any game. I’ve had a lot of fun with these guys. I’ve been doing this a long time and they were one of the more fun teams I’ve been around.
"We didn’t really have a lot of basketball players, per say, just some decent athletes. I thought they improved as a team. These teams that blew us out earlier in the year, we gave them good games. It was worthwhile."
Included in the 8th-grade class was Ross McDonald, who made an amazing 60 percent (6-for-10) from 3-point range. Peter Teifer, a hockey player by trade, still did a good job at the point guard.
"He probably won’t play basketball again," Gilligan said. "But he kept his head up, he was able to move the ball around. I can’t complain."Gilligan also had praise for his other 8th-graders.
"Johnny Mitko has a future in basketball," the coach said. I can see him playing in high school. Adam Lawrence had a great year, in my opinion, but he was sick the last three games and that hurt us. Pat Finn and Arjun Vikuntan and John Ryan were all eighth-graders who are going to be missed."
The good news is that a strong nucleus returns next year, including 7th-graders John and Max Bichsel, Mike Douglas, Shabeg Singh and Clint O’Brien. Gilligan said he is also looking for big things from Luke Brunskill and Joe Deramo."The future will be awesome with those boys coming back," Gilligan said. "We’ll have a new gym and a good team to help christen it."
GIRLS
The Viking girls saved their best for last, taking a come-from-behind, 16-14 victory over Crossroads of South Brunswick.
"We were behind the whole game and came back in the last couple of minutes to pull it out," coach Frank Silva said. "I give the girls credit. It was our last game, the season was pretty much over, but they rallied and came back to win it.
"It was our best victory of the year."
Amanda Santa Maria, who had 8 points in the win, hit a basket to tie it, and Stephanie Grubb and Sarah Casey hit foul shots to provide the winnign margin. Casey had 4 points, Grubb had 3 and Katie Burke had 1, as the Vikings finished with a 5-7 record.
Cranbury lost its previous two games, falling to Kreps, 29-24, and Millstone, 29-19.
Santa Maria had 13 against Kreps "and got on a roll where she couldn’t miss," according to Silva. Grubb added 5 points, Emily Kotowski had 3, Megan Palagyi had 2 and Katie Lindberg had 1.
Against Millstone, Santa Maria had nine, Grubb had 5, Zara Stasi 2, and Kaitlyn Batista, Emily Kotowski and Palagyi had 1 apiece.
The Vikings will bid farewell to nearly the entire varsity team, as 8th-graders Burke, Batista, Casey, Grubb, Kotwoski, Lindberg, Palagyi , Santa Maria and Danica Prespe will all move on.
"I’ll miss the leadership of captains Stephanie Grubb and Katie Lindberg as captains," Silva said. "They did a nice job."
Returning players next year should include Olivia Johnston, Stasi and Maggie Bleach.

