Malko, Sferra propel team into county semifinals
By: Rudy Brandl
The Hillsborough High boys faced a series of obstacles in Monday night’s first round Somerset County Basketball Tournament game.
First, the Raiders were coming off an emotional stretch of hard-fought victories that put the team back in the hunt for the Delaware Division title. HHS had played back-to-back games over the weekend and held a Sunday practice session. It wasn’t unlikely that Hillsborough might come into this game a little flat.
Then, the eighth-seeded Raiders faced that dreaded 8-9 tournament game that often yields mild upsets, especially when the visiting ninth-ranked team has as much ability as Rutgers Prep. HHS first-year head coach Ian Progin admitted he was concerned that his team might look past this game and ahead to a quarterfinal war at top-ranked Bridgewater-Raritan.
To make matters more challenging, the Raiders weren’t at full strength. Chad Barbieri and Simeon Vargas were unavailable due to illness and injury, respectively, which shortened the HHS bench.
Despite all these potential drawbacks, the Raiders found a way to prevail and advanced to the quarterfinals with a 60-47 triumph over a gritty bunch of Argonauts. The Raiders were sluggish early, dominated for a long stretch midway through the first half to take command and held off a Rutgers Prep rally in the fourth quarter to win their fourth consecutive game.
"We’ve been playing a lot lately and I was expecting us to come out a little slow," Progin said. "We just had to wake up and step it up on defense."
The game began like a shootout, the style Rutgers Prep loves to play, and was tied at 9-9 before four minutes had elapsed. The Argos were controlling the boards and trading baskets with the Raiders.
That trend stopped for the next eight minutes, when Hillsborough went on an 11-0 tear that opened up enough breathing room for the remainder of the contest. The surge started with the Raiders scoring the final seven points of the first period and adding four more to open the second. Prep went scoreless for 8:07 and the Raiders had a 20-9 cushion.
"The important thing was to play tough defense," said HHS senior Mike Malko, who posted a monster double-double with 18 points and 16 rebounds. "We knew our offense would come to us. We had to play defense. That’s how we’ve been winning these games."
Rebounding was another key element in Hillsborough’s takeover of this game. Prep grabbed 10 boards in the first quarter but only snagged 12 the rest of the way. Malko, with a game-high 16 rebounds, led his team’s charge on the glass.
"We just focused on boxing out," Malko said. "Basically, it was just fundamentals and playing hard-nosed defense."
Malko opened the 11-0 spurt with a 3-pointer from the left wing. Fellow senior Zack Smith canned a jumper from the left side and junior point guard Charles Miller hit two free throws with a minute left in the quarter.
Evan Anderson came off the bench and opened the second period with a put-back. Smith converted a transition hoop to finish the Raider flurry.
"We did a real nice job in the first half," Progin said. "Rutgers Prep has a good team and they’ve got guys who can do some things. We couldn’t forget about the game at hand."
Despite trailing 31-16 at the half, Prep didn’t quit. Things became rather interesting late in the third period and early in the fourth when the visitors crept back to within striking range.
Prep’s Mike Manning, who knocked in a team-high 18 points, opened the final quarter with a foul line jumper that cut the Hillsborough lead to 41-35. Miller answered with a runner in the lane to boost the lead back to eight. Corey Wilburn banked in a three from the top of the key but Malko converted an offensive rebound into a basket for a 45-38 edge.
The visitors cut the HHS advantage to four on their next trip down the floor when Quinten Sutton buried a three from the left corner with 3:27 to play. Prep had a few chances to get closer but Miller drew a charge and Manning missed a layup to keep the deficit at four.
T.J. Sferra, who had another solid game with 16 points, made some big shots down the stretch to ice the game. The senior guard knifed through the lane behind a Malko pick and scored to make it 47-41 with 2:34 to play. He also converted a fast break layup and hit two free throws in the final two minutes.
Malko made four more free throws and Miller hit a pair to help the Raiders finish the quarter 8-for-8 and the game a perfect 10-for-10. Prep never came closer than eight points in the stretch run.
Hillsborough finished with a 31-22 edge in rebounding for the game, 22-12 after the first period. The Raiders shot 48 percent from the field and finished with a 13-0 edge in bench scoring. Miller (6) and Anderson (2) were joined by guard Harold Acosta, who nailed a big three and scored all five of his points in the second quarter. Starters Smith (8), Mark Demetriou (3) and Brandon Shamy (2) rounded out the scoring.
"We definitely didn’t come into this game underestimating them," Malko said. "We did come out a little slow, but then we just took care of business."