BY RICHARD JEROME
Staff Writer
By any measure, Mike Delaversano’s first season as coach of the South River High School boys basketball team has been a rousing success.
The Rams, who were 12-11 last year, matured into a 16-8 squad, which made it to the sectional semifinals before losing, 64-49, to Metuchen.
The Bulldogs avenged two regular-season losses to South River Saturday and advanced to the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group I finals with a 64-49 win.
Metuchen’s collection of talented underclassmen steadily improved over the course of the season, as evidenced in Saturday’s win.
“We blew a 14-point lead the first time we played South River at their place,” Metuchen head coach Rich Stoner said. “When we played them in Metuchen they hit a 3-pointer with four seconds to send the game into overtime and get the win. This time our guys were not going to let them win.”
Metuchen came out of the locker room determined and took an 18-12 first quarter lead.
“Marqus Blakely and Nick Storts started out hot,” Stoner said. “Dejuan Miller was also hot early but he got hit with his second foul early on a tough call. That call hurt him because he was a nonentity from the second quarter on.”
Blakely scored eight of his team-high 20 points in the opening quarter, and a pair of three-pointers by Lamar and Jerry Nichols in the second quarter helped put the Bulldogs ahead of South River by 15.
The Bulldogs found themselves ahead by just five points after a late second-quarter run by the Rams ended the first half. However, there would be no miracle comeback for South River as the Bulldogs were in total command of the third and fourth quarters.
“We focused on taking better care of the ball,” Stoner said. “We were up double-digits most of the second half.”
The Rams did battle back, but Metuchen sank 11 fourth-quarter foul shots to ice the victory.
However, the manner in which South River continued to fight despite facing several large deficits speaks volumes for the team’s character.
“We had three seniors, but we also had a lot of contributions from younger kids,” Delaversano said.
One of them was the team’s leading scorer, 6-foot-1 sophomore Joe Lasala, who averaged 14.5 points a game.
“He was excellent at going to the basket, and he really improved his free-throw shooting,” the coach pointed out.
As for other starters, senior Zyhair Dotson (6-1) averaged just under a dozen points a game and displayed his usual excellent athleticism, while also providing valuable team leadership. Another senior, Eric McDaniel (5-9), also averaged 12 points per game (ppg) as well as five assists a game from the point guard slot.
“He coaches the team on the court,” Delaversano said.
First-year senior Dan Kosko (5-9) averaged seven ppg and had some dazzling moments for the Rams, notably setting the school record for three-pointers in one game with seven. Rounding out the starters was defensive specialist Ron Litz, a 5-8 junior who invariably played the opposition’s big scorer, and also chipped in five ppg of his own.
Coming off the bench were juniors Jason Martin and Marty McGough, along with sophomore Josh Williams. Delaversano’s assistants were freshman coach Rafael Rocha and jayvee mentor Mike Daly.
“These guys started playing in June and played about 60 games from then on,” Delaversano said. “They came along great.”
— Shawn Layton contributed to this story