YOUTH BASKETBALL
The Mary Mother of God Team Leinbach fifth and sixth grade boys got back on the winning track with an impressive offensive performance against Our Lady of Fatima in Piscataway. Team Leinbach’s 50-18 victory improved its overall season record to 4-4 after a couple tough looses.
The team overcame a season long trend of playing well in the first half only to come up short in the second half. The well-balanced offensive attack included scoring from 10 players.
The team made 11-of-21 foul shots including shots by Grant Bataille and Tyler Gulla. Other big contributions came from Brendan Bagdan (11 points), Mike Reilly (10), Kyle Sluka (6), Danny Leinbach (5), Gavin Mills (5), Mike DiAlfonso (4), Stephen Hill (4) and Mike Massi (3).
Thomas Riccardo had a number of rebounds and had a couple of shots bounce in and out. The team was scheduled to take on St. Mary’s Perth Amboy in its next game inHillsborough.
In other fifth and sixth grade boys’ games:
Immaculate Conception 29, St. Joe’s Blue 17 On Jan. 13, the St. Joseph’s fifth and sixth grade boys Blue team played great but fell short of the win with a score of 29-17. St. Joe’s first points of the day came from Drew Conroy with a great pass from Scot Levonaitis. Conroy scored St. Joe’s first nine points of the game capped off with a 3- pointer from the top of the key with a great feed from Chris Lew. Ryan Kellerman added a bucket with a sensational pass from Thomas Cahill. Kevin Szymanowski then hit a beautiful jump shot from the corner off a perfect pass from Matt Seelig. Szymanowski added two more scores with passes from Bryce Engelhardt and Dustin Ciano. Tommy Wagner handled the ball for St. Joes with great feeds. Paul Vecchio Eddie Desedariocreated a few turnovers to keep the game within St. Joes reach. Conroy led all scorers with nine and Szymanowski added seven.
St. Joe’s 24, Immaculate Conception 23 Joey Romanoski chipped in with nine points and five rebounds, while Brent Leoni played a huge role, leading all players with eight rebounds, to help lead the St. Joe’s fifth and sixth grade boys to a thrilling 24-23 victory over Immaculate Conception of Clinton. Things started off slowly for St. Joe’s, who found themselves down 9-2 in the first quarter. Michael Remsen (2 points, 4 rebounds) tossed in a bucket off a feed from Jeff Kuc (2 points, 6 rebounds) to cut the halftime lead.
The boys continued to chip away, but IC found a way to hold on, and with 3½ minutesleft in the game, seemed in control at 23-19. St. Joe’s applied their press and knotted the score on a bucket from Eddie Trimpert, who finished with six points. Michael Troeller (5 points, 7 rebounds) rounded out the scoring by converting the front end of a one-and-one to seal the win. Ryan Applegate had an assist, while Josh Prince and Isaac Gomolka once again played stellar defense. Grant Dickinson and Dylan Finer helped run the offense, with two assists each, while Michael Wybraniec played well on both sides of the ball.
The St. Joe’s boys evened their record at 3-3.
4TH GRADE BOYS
St. Joseph’s 26, St. Francis 19 St. Joe’s came back from a nine-point first half deficit to beat St. Francis of Metuchen 26-19. It was a complete team effort, with six players contributing points while everyone playing a swarming style of defense in the second half to outscore St. Francis 19-3.
Matthew Remsen led all scorers with 12 points and handed out five assists to lead the charge. Alec Romanoski (2 points) and Chris Blum (2 points) scored their first baskets contributing to the second win of the season for the Blue Storm. Zack Luceno (2 points) and Paul Michinard were huge on the offensive and defensive glass, while Brendan Nork, Daniel Nelson, and Michael Irwin (2 points) played heads up defense, keeping the guards from penetrating to the basket. Sean Plaskon saw some time at point guard tossing in five points and running the offense along with Derek Elwood, who also hit the fourth quarter free throw to ice the game.
St Joseph’s SanFillippo 19, MOOG 16 On Jan. 19, in what proved to be one of the most thrilling games of the season, St. Joseph’s Blue Storm was able to sneak past a very competitive and much improved MMOG team. With a great defensive effort, MMOG held St. Joe’s to just six points and had a two-point advantage at the half. The second half was very much the same as MMOG held a on to a four-point lead until early in the fourth quarter.
However, with five minutes left in the game the Blue Storm turned up the heat on both sides of the ball and took the lead. With about one minute remaining MMOG hit a long range jumper to pull within one point. Then with 30 seconds left, Cole Norfleet, who led all scorers with six points, was fouled and went to the line to try and seal the victory. In what should be one of the top 10 plays of the day, Norfleet made both free throws to put St. Joe’s ahead by three points as MMOG’s last shot fell short to end the contest.
Defensively, St. Joseph’s was lead by the ferocious play of Eric Ross, Patrick Cahill, Michael Engelhardt and Matt Gradone at the top of the key. Putting the ball in the basket for St. Joe’s was Chris Rivera, Luke Finer and Kyle Jeney, who all chipped in for two points, while Mike Rivera had his best performance of the season with four points. Lastly, Tyler SanFillippo hit the boards hard and provided great low post defense throughout the game. Congratulations to both teams for their great effort and good sportsmanship.
5/6 GIRLS
St. Joseph’s Marucci 33, MMOG 10 Led by Arielle Couso’s three baskets and great team defense, the fifth and sixth grade girls of St. Joe’s Team Marucci secured a 33-10 victory over MMOG on Jan. 5. Couso was 3-for-6 from the floor and added four steals to pace the St. Joe’s defense.
Erika Cavallo led all scorers with nine points, while adding four steals of her own and four defensive boards. Brooke McGill added eight points and tremendous floor leadership on both the offensive and defensive ends of the hardwood. Kelly Amen played another terrific game, setting picks, diving for lose balls and chipping in with three steals while working for good scoring opportunities.
Erin “the Intimidator “ Amen kept the glass clean by holding down the middle with her intimidating presence altered quite a few shots. Alissa Vizzoni added a basket and two rebounds and played great defense in the paint. Lea Marucci added a basket, an assist and two rebounds along with great perimeter defense. Allison Wickman played another great game with four points a rebound and two steals. Nicole Rossi added a basket, three rebounds and four steals and ran the point for the offense.
St. Joseph’s Marucci 38, Blessed Sacrament 10 Next, St. Joe’s Marucci delivered one of the best performances of the year in crushing the powerful squad from Blessed Sacrament 38-10 at Christ the King in Manville on Jan. 12. In a tight first quarter, St. Joe’s jumped to an 8 -2 lead. The shots for the Blue Storm were there but did not fall. The offense worked hard but 4-for-20 shooting kept Blessed Sacrament in the game.
The game was broken open by great team defense and Brooke McGill’s 10 points on six shots. McGill played great team defense deflecting several balls and denying entry passes from the top of the key. Erika Cavallo chipped in with eight points and dominated the middle again with a great defensive performance and added two rebounds. Kelly Amen, Lea Marucci and Allissa Vizzoni each added four points. Amen delivered a strong game with her usual toughness by playing four spots and adding five rebounds. Lea Marucci played great defense and passing while adding an assist and steal; Allissa Vizzoni played a great game moving all over the paint to create the opportunity for 11 shots. Running the triangle in the paint, Vizzoni was able to pace the offense.
Arielle Couso and Cate Zuccarello each added a basket while running the offense from the point guard spot and playing tough defense. In addition, Zuccarello added a steal and a assist. Allison Wickman and Nicole Rossi each added two points. Rossi chipped in with two points and Wickman chipped in with two boards on the defensive end. Erin Amen added a steal while playing out on the wing as none of her shots fell.
MMOG (B) 28, St. Joseph’s Manning 25 Another close contest between cross-town rivals that came down to the final seconds of a very exciting game before a winner could be declared. Amanda Muller “Ms Hustle” led her team scoring as well as defensively with four steals and 14 points. She was helped by the long list of guards Paulina Costello, Erin Mershon, Megan Muller and Alex DeGaris that moved the ball and kept MMOG on their heels all game. Our forwards Jessica Geremia, Gillian Manning, Kim Neydon, Leah Meszaros, and Brianne Kelahan battled all game under the boards but came up short to the taller opponents. Down by more than 10 points at the end of the third the Blue Storm came within one point but fell short of a victory.
St. Bart’s 34, Joseph’s Manning 32 With 10 seconds to go with the game tied at 30, St. Bart’s inbounded the ball and hits a 14-footer for the winning basket leaving only four seconds to play. The Blue Storm tried one final play but was unable to beat the clock. The Muller sisters combined for a total of 24 points and six steals. Kim Neydon kicked in two buckets and a strong six rebounds. She was joined by Jessica Geremia with five rebounds and Leah Meszaros with three. Paulina Costello added two steals to the count and Alex Degaris kicked in four points to the Blue Storms score. Gillian Manning and Brianne Kelahan were strong under the boards against a very strong opponent from South Brunswick.
St. Joe’s 21, IC Clinton 19 After opening up with a win vs. Spotswood, the St. Joes fifth and sixth grade girls traveled to Clinton to face a strong IC Clinton team. In a hard-fought defensive game, which was decided in overtime, St. Joe’s prevailed 21-19 on a last second basket by Alison Calamoneri. Clinton had come back from four points down in the fourth quarter to tie it up. Melissa Bijas led all scorers with eight points. Other offensive leaders were Carissa Otrimski (6), Raeann Kalieta (4), Kaitlyn Irwin (3) andCassie Kouten (2). The strong defense was led by Kristen Coiley, Calamoneri, Otrimski ,and Irwin, who combined for 31 rebounds. Kristen Emmerson recorded several steals.
St. Joe’s 22, MMOG 17 In another close game, St. Joe’s beat MMOG 22-17. Calamoneri and Otrimski lead all scorers with eight points each. Emmerson and Bijas chipped in with two points each. The defense was led by Kalieta and Kouten. Erika Lipinski and Coiley forced several turnovers. With this victory, the girls improved their season record to 4-0.
St. Joe’s 22,Our Lady of Fatima 16 In another exciting game, filled with great shots and some key stops, St. Joe’s pushed their record to 5-0 with a balanced win over Our Lady of Fatima. Again, Calamoneri led the scoring with 10 points. Other offensive standouts were Otrimski (6), Kouten (4), and Sojourner Mineo (2). Otrimski led the defense, with some acrobatic rebounds, even after getting in early foul trouble. Other defensive gems were turned in by Emmerson, Lipinski and Coiley. Kaitlin Irwin made her presence known under the boards.
St. Joe’s 14, St. Francis 3 Defense was the name of the game, as St. Joe’s improved to 6-0 with a lopsided 14-3 victory over St. Francis. Otrimski led the way with six points, followed by Calamoneri and Bijas with four points each. The defense was led by Coiley and Emmerson. Kalieta and Irwin controlled the boards, keeping St. Francis from scoring. Mineo seemed to be everywhere on the court, sparking the undefeated St. Joe’s team.
HS BOYS
Immaculate Conception 43. St. Joe’s McGill 40 St. Joe’s scored 20 points in the fourth quarter but could not catch Immaculate Conception. The locals erased a 10-point lead in the last two minutes thanks to a tenacious press and the 3-point shooting of Jon McGill (14 points) and Owen Thomson, who had all nine of his points in the fourth quarter. Kevin Grek (4 points) had a steal with 10 seconds to go but St Joe’s could not get a good shot off before the final buzzer. Pat Roberts had seven points and Andrew Clark, Brendan Corwley and Chris Mullaly each had two points.