Basketball team wins third sectional title in school history
By: David Gurney
WOODBRIDGELess than two weeks ago, the South Brunswick High School boys basketball team was questioning its own sanity after a spellbinding three-point loss to underdog Cardinal McCarrick in the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament semifinals.
On Monday, an anxious student body filtered its way onto the far sideline with a little over three minutes of game time remaining, knowing full well the game was in the Vikings’ hands and there was little doubt.
When the final buzzer rang, the students stormed the court and the basketball team rejoiced after an historic game for the program and school.
The Vikings, for only the third time in school history (and first time in Group IV), claimed a state sectional title with a resounding 88-72 victory over No. 1 Freehold Township in the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group IV Championship at Woodbridge High School. It was the Vikes’ first sectional title since winning CJ II in 1974
With the victory, the Vikings (26-2) moved into the NJSIAA Group IV State Semifinals and took on South Jersey winner Cherokee at Atlantic City High School tonight (Thursday). The game was originally scheduled for Wednesday, but was postponed due to snow-covered roads in South Jersey.
SBHS was led by senior forward Devon Young, who scored a game-high 25 points on 8-of-14 shooting, including 3-of-7 from three-point range, and chipped in with six rebounds and a team-high seven assists.
Senior guard Martin Soaries added 17 points on 5-for-7 shooting while senior guard Brian Morgan contributed 15 points and three rebounds off the bench.
But for Morgan and the rest of the Vikings, it was all smiles and hugs after the game.
"This is amazing," said Morgan, who also scored 13 points in the Vikings’ 65-53 road victory over Rancocas Valley last week in the sectional semifinals. "Ever since we were playing in fourth and fifth grade we’ve been working towards this and dreaming of it.
"We were disappointed with losing in the county tournament, but winning in the states is so much better."
Up by three at the half, the third-seeded Vikings were bolstered by a 12-6 run in the beginning of the second half. That gave SBHS its largest lead at the time, 48-39, with 4:49 left in the third quarter.
After cutting the margin to four on two different occasions, the Vikings outscored Freehold 12-7 over the remaining three minutes in the third to take a 62-51 advantage into the fourth.
The highlight was Martin Soaries completing a conventional three-point play and drawing both a personal and technical foul on Patriots’ leading scorer Ed Fischer (21 points, nine assists). That gave Fischer four personal fouls with a little over a quarter remaining.
"I just felt that we executed well offensively tonight," South Brunswick head coach Chris Balent said. "Defensively, they run a lot of pick and pops, but we did a good job defensively. We always have to rebound well. We give up inches in height, but we made up for it with work on the glass."
The 12-7 spurt stretched into a 21-11 run which gave SB a lead of 16 early in the fourth. It proved to be a lead too insurmountable for the Patriots (25-2), who couldn’t get closer than seven the rest of the game. And then the fans spilled onto the court.
"There’s no better feeling than this," Young said after the game. "With the fans and the win, it’s incredible. We knew we could win this game and set the tone early. We just picked up some steam in the second and third quarters."
After combining for 24 points in the first half, the Patriots’ two leading scorers, Marcus Roberson and Fischer, were held to a combined 16 points and 6-of-18 shooting.
Roberson was stifled by the joint defensive effort of senior center Vineesh Manchanda (four points, seven rebounds) and sophomore forward Mohammed Sanu, who also provided a crucial offensive spark with eight points off the bench.
"We just wanted to be physical with him, because he (Roberson) shies away from physical play," Manchanda said. "We fronted and played physical and he couldn’t get the ball. Our guards pressured enough and forced Fischer to beat us."
Eight different players tallied for the Vikings, while only four scored for the Patriots. Although the Patriots scored 72 points, they shot a collective 28-for-68 from the field, good for only 41.1 percent.
On the flip side, the Vikings shot 30-for-52 from the field, a whopping 57.7 percent. In the second half, the SB was 16-for-21 shooting, missing two of its five shots from behind the arc.
In the game, SB was 21-of-25 at the free throws line (84 percent) and 6-for-12 from three-point range.
"This game was huge, and so was the win at Rancocas Valley," Balent said. "We heard rumbling throughout Middlesex County about how we haven’t been able to win the big one. We didn’t win the country tournament last year, and we lost in the semifinals of the state sectionals. But this was a great win."

