RAIDER ROUNDUP
By: Rudy Brandl
The Hillsborough High girls’ basketball team continued its winning streak and kept alive its hopes for a Delaware Division title with two big victories last week.
Hillsborough improved to 14-3 overall and 10-1 in divisional play with wins over Bridgewater-Raritan (47-39) and Hunterdon Central (51-43). The Lady Raiders nearly took sole possession of first place in the division when co-leader North Hunterdon received a major scare at Bridgewater last Thursday night. Bridgewater tied North with an offensive rebound put back in the closing seconds but the basket was waved off due to a controversial lane violation.
North survived and escaped Bridgewater with a crucial victory. The Lady Raiders can still earn a divisional co-championship with wins over Phillipsburg (Feb. 10), Warren Hills (Feb. 13) and Watchung Hills (Feb. 18).
HHS started well in both of last week’s victories, which ran the team’s win streak to four in a row. The Lady Raiders took a 30-25 lead vs. B-R and opened up some breathing room with a 10-5 spurt in the third quarter.
Sophomore Ali DeLuca led all scorers with 14 points, hitting a pair of 3-pointers. DeLuca scored 11 of her points in the first half.
Senior Jess Rainey had another huge all-around game, connecting for 10 points, 11 rebounds, nine steals and four assists. Rainey scored six in the first half.
The 1-2 senior punch of Rainey and Allison Kutch netted 15 and 11 points, respectively, in Friday night’s win at Hunterdon Central. Rainey nailed one three and Kutch buried a pair in the victory, which eliminated Central from state playoff contention. The win also kept the Lady Raiders perfect on the road this season.
Christine Rash and DeLuca added eight points apiece at Central, while freshman Kelsey Kutch scored six in both games last week.
Boys get back
in division race
Many local basketball fans may be surprised, but the HHS boys are in the hunt for the Delaware Division title.
Three straight wins over divisional rivals, plus a couple of losses by former leader Franklin, have put the Raiders right back in the middle of things in the Delaware. Franklin, which narrowly escaped defeat Jan. 31 at Hillsborough, went on to drop three straight games last week and entered the week with four losses in the division.
Hillsborough improved to 9-3 in conference play by knocking off the other three contenders in succession, posting an impressive 49-35 victory at Bridgewater-Raritan, a 56-50 home win over Hunterdon Central and a 55-50 triumph on the road at Watchung Hills. The triumph at B-R avenged an earlier defeat and clinched the team’s qualification to the state playoffs.
"We held them under 40 the first time, too," Raider rookie head coach Ian Progin said, referring to Bridgewater’s 39-35 victory in January. "It was just that we didn’t make enough shots. We made more shots this time."
The Raiders needed all three wins to stay in the Delaware chase. Saturday’s victory at Watchung moved HHS ahead of the Warriors in the division standings. Both teams came in with three divisional losses. Watchung left with four.
Entering this week’s action, Bridgewater leads with a 10-2 divisional mark, followed by Hillsborough (9-3), Franklin (8-4) and Watchung (8-4). After making a long road trip to Phillipsburg Tuesday night, the Raiders are scheduled to host Warren Hills tomorrow night. Wins in both games will give the Raiders a chance to be co-champs with Bridgewater.
Senior guard T.J. Sferra played some big games last week. Sferra led all scorers with 21 points in Saturday night’s win after firing in 12 against Central and 16 at Bridgewater. Sferra hit a pair of 3-pointers at B-R and nailed three bombs Saturday night. He also scored three of his team’s points in a 7-1 overtime run in the home victory over Central.
Big Mike Malko shared the team lead in scoring at Bridgewater, hitting two threes and six free throws for most of his 16 points. Malko posted 18 points and eight rebounds at Watchung.
Other heroes of last week’s win streak included Mark Demetriou, who led all scorers with 17 points vs. Central. The junior swingman hit two pressure free throws to help force overtime and scored 13 points after the intermission. Senior Zack Smith came up big Saturday night, hitting 3-of-4 from the free throw line to help the Raiders ice the victory. Smith finished with nine points.
Swimmers rule
late dual meets
The HHS swim teams posted yet another convincing dual meet sweep in last week’s regular season finale. Hillsborough’s boys improved to 11-1 with a 117-51 romp over North Hunterdon, while the Raider girls moved to 9-5 with a 97-73 thumping of the Lions.
Six different HHS boys won individual events. Tim Rauch captured the 200 free (1:59.08), Pat Kuehne took the 200 individual medley (2:15.51), Devin Gunasekara prevailed in the 100 fly (1:01.41), James Vanbiervliet won the 100 back (1:00.91), Mark Green captured the 500 free (5:24.03) and Frank Ippolito took the 100 breast (1:06.14).
In addition, the Raiders took first in two of the three relay races. Green, Kuehne, Rich Byrne and Sean Downey won the 200 medley relay (1:481.14), while Dave Donatelli, Eric Horowitz, Rob Webb and Vanbiervliet prevailed in the 400 free relay (3:59.84).
Jessica Stever led the Hillsborough girls with individual wins in the 50 free (27.09) and 100 free (59.17). She also competed on the winning 400 free relay team (4:04.22) with Missy McCormick, Madison Goldberg and Colleen Delucia.
McCormick and Delucia also won individual races. McCormick took first in the 200 free (2:14.73), while Delucia prevailed in the 500 free (5:59.10) to complete a Hillsborough sweep in all the freestyle events.
HHS also won the 200 free relay with Sarah Miller, Debbie Delatour, Julie Bianchini and Ashley Grandell finishing in a time of 1:52.97.
The Raiders were scheduled to compete in the Skyland Conference Championships yesterday afternoon in their final tune-up for the state team playoffs.
Wrestlers return
to win column
The Raider wrestlers shook off their one and only defeat of the season and returned home to thump Lawrence Saturday morning.
It was a battle of conference champs, but Hillsborough’s 55-17 rout of the Mercer County winners proves Somerset County is much stronger in wrestling. The Raiders are also one of five county teams to qualify for the sectional team playoffs.
The Raiders (10-1) were seeded fifth in the loaded Central Jersey Group 4 bracket and will travel to top-seeded Jackson (14-0) for next Tuesday night’s playoffs. Hillsborough will face fourth-ranked Hunterdon Central for the right to challenge Jackson later in the evening.
Hillsborough recovered from its tough three-point loss at Central in a big way. After forfeiting the opening bout at heavyweight, the Raiders went on a run of four straight wins to take a 13-6 lead.
Sophomore Adam Kull posted a 7-3 decision at 103 and freshman John Mangini improved to 18-0 with his 12th pin of the year at 112 pounds. Tye Wagner notched a fall at 119 and Griff Campbell’s major at 125 capped the team’s early surge.
Lawrence star Mark Savino briefly stopped the momentum with his 100th career win, a third-period pin of Frank McLaughlin, but the Raiders won seven of the final eight bouts and cruised to victory.
Kevin Lynch (135) and Mike Detsis (140) followed with falls to increase the HHS lead to 25-12. John Newman won by injury default at 152, Pat Jastrzebski pinned his man at 160 and Chris Monticchio posted an 11-9 win at 171. Phil Lavoie (major at 189) and Mark Amerman (pin at 215) rounded out the victory.
Hillsborough was scheduled to wrestle at South Brunswick last night before tonight’s big match at The Pit in Phillipsburg. The Raiders could force a three-way tie for the Delaware Division tie if they can upset the Stateliners. HHS then returns home for a Saturday tri-meet with Roxbury and Emerson.