Defense falls apart vs. Watchung Hills
By: Rudy Brandl
The Hillsborough High boys opened the New Year like they were playing with a hangover. Consecutive losses leveled the team’s record at 4-4 and made this week’s road games at Franklin and Montgomery critical if the Raiders expect to stay in the hunt for the Delaware East Division crown.
Second-year head coach Ian Progin stormed off the court in disgust last Thursday night after watching his team lose a lopsided 71-52 game to Watchung Hills in the Delaware East opener for both schools. Progin had seen his team struggle on offense in recent games, but was horrified by all the defensive breakdowns that allowed the Warriors to light up the scoreboard.
After all, this was a Hillsborough team that had limited five of its first seven opponents to under 50 points. The Raiders hadn’t allowed more than 57 points in a game but the Warriors found open looks all over the court and put on an offensive show.
"When we play defense, we don’t score enough points to win," Progin said. "When we start to play offense, we don’t play any defense. We didn’t play any defense in this game."
Watchung senior forward Matt Giannini, possibly the best player in the Skyland Conference, dominated the game with 26 points and 17 rebounds. Giannini showed his inside game and outside touch, hitting two 3-pointers from the right wing along with a few short jumpers in a 12-point outburst in the opening quarter when the visitors rolled to a 22-9 lead.
The Raiders rallied with a few spurts but never fully recovered from the first period. Hillsborough shot just 28 percent from the field for the game to continue a recent offensive slump. Only a few late buckets in garbage time enabled the Raiders to creep over the 50-point mark for the first time since the third game of the season.
"We haven’t been patient at all," HHS senior point guard Brandon Shamy said. "We have to get the ball inside more and be more patient. It will come. If they double down low, we have the kick-out pass wide-open. I think we’re rushing everything 100 miles an hour. We need to relax."
Giannini and the Warriors made it very difficult for the Raiders to get comfortable. He outscored the entire HHS team in the first period and scored Watchung’s first five points of the second quarter to finish the first half with 17 points.
"He’s good, but it doesn’t matter," Progin said. "We still have to find a way to stop him."
The Raiders tried fronting Giannini in the second half and did a better job containing him, but other Watchung players stepped up and continued the onslaught. Mike Wood connected for three inside buckets in the third quarter when the Raiders made their last serious run. Wood finished with 12 points and 13 rebounds, with 10 points coming in the second half.
Hillsborough made a charge at the start of the second half and missed three good chances to get back in the game. Senior swingman Chad Barbieri, the only HHS player in double figures with 12 points, drained his third bomb to cut the deficit to 32-26 with 6:42 remaining in the third quarter.
After the teams traded baskets to keep the spread at six points, the Raiders missed two layups on consecutive possessions and Joe D’Amelio nailed a jumper from the foul line to extend the lead to eight. HHS senior center Joel Brissett missed two free throws and the Warriors went on to score the next eight points to put the game out of reach.
"We were sluggish," Shamy said. "We just didn’t more quickly enough. We were getting beat man-to-man."
Watchung moved the ball around and worked for easy shots, while the Raiders relied on perimeter shooting and couldn’t buy a basket.
"They had a lot of points in the paint and we didn’t," Shamy said. "They had a lot of easy layups."
The Raiders spent most of the fourth quarter with reserves trying to cut down the deficit but never got it down below 11 points. Watchung made 9-of-11 free throws to cap an impressive offensive night.
It’s still early and the HHS boys have nine more games in the Delaware East and another month before the NJSIAA qualifying deadline. This team still believes it can compete in the division and return to the state playoffs.
"We just have to play hard and give it everything we’ve got," Shamy said. "We have a lot of talent on this team. We have to play our game and don’t force it. We have to play more as a team."

