By: Sean Moylan
Defense wins championships.
Defense was the driving force behind the Florence Township Memorial High School boys’ varsity football team wrapping up its second straight Group I state title a few months ago.
And it wasn’t too long ago when Hall-of-Fame Florence boys’ varsity basketball coach Art Bobik’s teams used great "D" to capture back-to-back state titles.
After struggling (but winning) to find their defensive intensity in the first few weeks of the season, the Flashes made a defensive statement this past week with a 42-38 victory at McCorristin on Saturday and a 55-34 victory at Holy Cross last Thursday.
The Flashes held a high-scoring McCorristin team to single digit scoring in three of the four quarters.
"I thought our defense really played well yesterday (Saturday)," said Bobik.
"I thought our defense did a good job of controlling the game. I’m just happy we won. I’m happy we’re starting to play better defense."
When the Flashes are "on" defensively just getting off a shot can by "trying" experience for the opposing team.
Moreover, Florence hit McCorristin with balanced scoring from Maurice "Mo" Calhoun (10 points), Abree Jones (10 points), Jeff Erlston (nine points) and Matt Ordog (nine points). Florence’s "football" stars have been on fire as of late.
"Jeff (Erlston) has been playing better. Mo’s (Calhoun) getting his legs back. And Matty’s (Ordog) been solid all year," said Bobik, who likes what Jones has done so far too.
Meanwhile Chris Giambrone (four points) knocked down another 3-pointer in Florence’s win at McCorristin.
The Flashes led the game 24-16 at the half, but the Iron Mikes made it a closer game with a couple of second-half runs. Florence, however, put the game away with some makes from the foul line late in the final quarter.
While nobody was surprised Florence beat Holy Cross last Thursdaythe way they beat them was a bit unusual-the Flashes trounced the Lancers, 55-34.
"Holy Cross was a big win for us," said Bobik, who liked his team’s defensive effort in that one too.
With 19 points and 11 rebounds, Erlston had perhaps his best game of the year. Calhoun (14 points), Ordog (nine points, eight assists) and Jones (10 boards, eight points) all played well too.
Bobik liked the "help defense" he saw from his team.
On Tuesday night the Flashes only shot 11-for-43 from the field and yet their defense was strong enough to escape Medford tech with a 47-38 victory.
Jones (11 points) and Ordog (10 points, including two 3-pointers) were Florence’s only double digit scorers in the contest.
However, Giambrone canned a pair of threes on his way to netting eight points.
Francis Ugowe, who had a great defensive game, netted six points as did Calhoun.
Although they only won by nine, Florence won every quarter on the scoreboard. It was the Flashes fifth victory in a row.
Florence (8-3) has a home game scheduled versus Bordentown today (Thursday). It is scheduled to host Maple Shade on Friday. Then on Tuesday, Florence is scheduled at Riverside.
BRHS
The Bordentown Regional High School boys’ varsity basketball team doesn’t have too many games on its schedule versus weak opponents.
Therefore when the Scotties got a chance to play against an over-matched, yet hard-playing Maple Shade squad last Thursday at home, Bordentown took full advantage of the opportunity and steamrolled to a 74-38 win.
The Scotties left nothing to chance as they came out strong to post a 38-15 edge at intermission.
"We played hard," said Bordentown head coach Mark Drew, who for one of the only times this season, was able to use nearly his entire bench.
Nonetheless, Bordentown’s big guns Sam McDuffie (18 points) and Danny Sasso (16 points with a quartet of 3-pointers) played long enough to make an impact.
Moreover, Mike Pracko had a strong 10-point game while Jon Kohler and Justin Gaines scored five points each. Brandon Fraser (four points), Justin Lewandowski (four points), James Brotherton (four points), Sidney Tucker (two points), Eric Timm (three points), Matt Rodenbaugh (two points) and Thomas Knapp (one point) also tallied for the Scotties.
However on Saturday afternoon it was back to playing the tough teams as Bordentown played well, but lost a hard-fought 81-76 decision at Westampton Tech.
"They’re (Westampton) undefeated," said Drew, whose team could not overcome a few big runs by the Panthers. Meanwhile the Scotties wasted an unbelievable 44-point effort by McDuffie. Kohler was also on fire with 14 points while Sasso and Knapp had six points apiece. Gaines (four points) and Brotherton (two points) scored too in a losing cause.
On Tuesday night the Bears nipped the Scotties 63-62 in a real heartbreaker at Delran.
"We lost at the buzzer. We had a 12-point lead and blew it," said Drew.
"We led throughout the game, but in the last quarter they had six 3-pointers."
It was very unlucky for Bordentown because Delran had not had a shooting effort like that the entire season.
Even so, McDuffie and Sasso both played extremely well and scored 21 points each. Meanwhile, Kohler and Knapp both had six-point games while Brotherton scored five points.
At 7-4 the Scotties can’t afford to over think these tough losses. They need to win two more games still to qualify for the state tournament.
Bordentown is scheduled at Florence today (Thursday) and at Cinnaminson tomorrow (Friday). On Tuesday it is scheduled to host Holy Cross.
LCA
LCA’s boys’ varsity basketball team crushed Mercer Christian, 71-28, in Tuesday night’s home game.
David Cotton and Darin Stribling each scored 17 points and Jonathan Edwards had 13 as the Warriors cruised to an easy win.
LCA is scheduled to host Elden Academy today (Thursday). On Saturday LCA is scheduled at National Christian in Maryland. LCA is scheduled at American Christian on Monday and International Christian on Tuesday.
NBC
Jerry Howell matched his career-high with 18 points at Burlington Township on Tuesday night.
Danny Zimplemann also netted a career high 18 points versus the Falcons. Unfortunately even with those record-setting days from two players who always play hard, Burlington Township was able to beat the Northern Burlington County Regional High School boys’ varsity basketball team, 73-67, in a contest which went down to the wire.
"We had a chance to tie it in the final minute," said NBC head coach Herman Johnson.
"The kids played well for 26 or 27 minutes with nothing to show for it."
Darius Newton tallied 14 points, including three makes from 3-point land. Irving Fryar also had a solid 11-point game for Northern, which received four points by Andre Jackson and two points by Shaun Jackman. NBC played well in the first quarter, but a 23-13 second quarter put the Greyhounds in a huge hole.
"We always seem to have one bad quarter every game. We were down by 14 by halftime," said Johnson, who was happy with his team’s play in the second half. Keith Jones did not play in the game.
NBC had only one bad quarter (the third) in a 57-52 home loss to Hamilton last Thursday. NBC either won or tied the other three quarters.
"That was a back-and-forth game. The kids played well that night," said Johnson.
NBC trailed by two points late (51-49) but a missed layup forced the Greyhounds to foul during the stretch drive. Hamilton made its subsequent free throws to close it out.
"We’re not going to sit here and make excuses. We’ll take our lumps this year, but these kids are learning how to play," said Johnson.
Howell (18 points), Zimplemann (10 points), Jones (nine points), Newton (eight points) and Fryar (seven points) all scored for the Greyhounds in the tough loss.
Although NBC is 2-7 it has been competitive in all of its games.
"The day we feel sorry for ourselves is the day we get blown out," said Johnson, whose team will continue to play hard each and every game.
NBC is scheduled at Cinnaminson today (Thursday). NBC is scheduled to host Pemberton on Saturday. Then on Monday NBC is scheduled at Willingboro.

