By David Gurney, Sports Writer
The Monroe Township High School boys basketball team is strong in a lot of areas.
Electric guards, perimeter shooters, strong half-court defense.
The list could probably continue. But every team has a bugaboo.
For the Falcons, it happens to be a lack of size.
At least compared to North Brunswick.
The deficit in height hurt against the Raiders, who pounded the boards and scored an abundance of second-chance points to beat the Falcons, 55-50, Tuesday night in North Brunswick. Monroe (7-5) dropped their second in a row, four days after losing to division-leader Colonia, 51-47.
Senior guard Ivan Barreto led the way with 17 points, while junior guard Steve Blish was the other double-digit scorer with 10. Sophomores Kenny Pace and Tim Brix finished with nine and eight points, respectively, while senior forward Justin Mitchell was held to his lowest scoring output of the season (four).
”It was a tough game, we didn’t play well at all,” head coach Bob Turco said. “We made some bad choices down the stretch, careless with the ball, didn’t box out on some free throws. We did some bad things down the stretch that cost us.”
Monroe (7-5) fought from behind all game, trailing 19-9 after the first quarter and falling behind by five at the half. But they chipped away, whittling the lead to four at the end of the third quarter and eventually taking a 47-46 lead with 1:40 to go in the contest on a corner jump shot by Mitchell.
But North Brunswick capitalized in the paint off a basket by Jeff Ashamole (16 points, 10 rebounds and six blocked shots) and off some Monroe turnovers, out-scoring the Falcons 9-3 over the game’s final 1:52 to eventually win by five.
”Their height and physicality was an issue for us,” Turco said. “We couldn’t rebound and get out and run. We started rebounding well in the second half and cut into their lead. But we weren’t getting easy baskets. Everything was from the outside because their line-up had a lot of guys over six feet.”
The Falcons outscored the Raiders at the line, 19-9, but made only one three-point field, normally a strong component of their offense.
This came off the heels of Thursday’s loss to Colonia, a game that saw Monroe lead most of the game until the six-minute mark in the fourth.
One of the county’s leading scorers, senior guard Brandon Hall, finished with 19 points for Colonia, seven of those coming in the final quarter. But he had to work hard for those points.
Junior guard Joey Ruopoli (eight points) put the clamps down on Hall, limiting the guard to only five first half points and doing, as Turco referred to as, “an amazing job” on Hall.
”(Joey) played as well as any point guard can play Hall,” Turco said. “You want a point guard to be a barometer. That night, Joey stacked up, all 5-8 of him and played a great game. That kid (Hall) is getting a scholarship, and Joey played as well as anyone has played against him. That’s all heart and determination.”
Brix led the way with 11 points and Mitchell added 10.
The Falcons (4-2 in the White) are currently a half-game back of first place teams Colonia and North Brunswick heading into, essentially, the second go-around of the division slate.
Destiny lies in the Falcons’ hands, but Turco knows that it won’t be easy, as the top-to-bottom depth of the division has never been stronger.
”The division is not the strongest in a sense of a top team, but on any given night, one to eight, anyone can win,” Turco said. “There’s a lot of parity. Even teams not doing well, like Woodbridge, has a win against Colonia. The next two weeks we’ll see separation in the division. I’m hoping we’ll be on the top half of the separation.”
NOTES: Both Friday’s home game against Steinert and Monday’s home game against Sayreville are at 1 p.m. The Sayreville game was originally schedule for 7 p.m.