MHS boys fall in tense atmosphere

Cougars look to states after SCT experience

By: Bob Nuse
   SOMERVILLE — Maybe just having played in the environment at Immaculata will make a difference down the road for the Montgomery High boys’ basketball team.
   While Immaculata is used to the big-game atmosphere that surrounded Wednesday night’s Somerset County Tournament semifinal, the experience was a new one for Montgomery. And in the end, that might have been the biggest difference in the game.
   "They’re used to playing in this type of game," said Montgomery coach Jeff Tagliareni, whose team lost to the Spartans, 61-50. "Because of our schedule we don’t get a chance to play in this sort of atmosphere very often. They play in games like this all the time and I think that helped them.
   "Even so, we had our chances to win and we just didn’t take advantage of them. This was certainly a game that we could have won."
   Montgomery trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half, but rallied to draw even in the second half. But a 12-2 run by Immaculata covering the end of the third quarter and beginning of the fourth turned a 36-34 Spartan lead into a 48-36 lead and the Cougars were never able to recover.
   "They switched to a zone and we weren’t able to score," Tagliareni said. "We had open shots, but we weren’t able to hit them. We just missed shots. We also got ourselves into foul trouble and that didn’t help us. I think the most disappointing things were our defense and rebounding.
   "You’re going to miss shots, that happens. No one tries to miss wide open shots. But the defense and rebounding could have been better. That’s where we had a chance to win the game and we didn’t do it. We did not play good defense and we didn’t rebound."
   Montgomery’s offense was led by Justin Freid with 18 points and Adam Hyncik with 17. The 18 points from Freid gave him 977 for his career.
   With the SCT loss behind them, the Cougars must quickly turn their focus to tonight’s Skyland Conference game at Voorhees. Having already clinched at least a share of the Raritan Division title, Montgomery would gain sole possession with a win tonight.
   "I told the kids after the game that now we have to forget about this one and focus on the next game," Tagliareni said. "That’s the tough thing about playing big games so close together. You have to put the loss behind you right away and focus on the next one, which is just as important.
   "This was an important game and we certainly wanted to win. But now we have to focus on Voorhees, because that’s an important game that we want to win."
   The Cougars play at Voorhees tonight, then play at Hillsborough on Saturday at 4 p.m. The Cougars will open play in the state tournament on Monday, March 3 when they host Rumson-Fair Haven.
   Tagliareni hopes the experience of having played a game like Wednesday’s against Immaculata will make a difference when the state tournament gets started.