Late-game heroics earn victories
By Bob Nuse and Justin Feil, Staff Writers
Their best competition yet wasn’t enough to stop either the Montgomery High School girls or West Windsor-Plainsboro South boys basketball teams.
Both remained unbeaten and came way with holiday tournament championships on Monday.
The Cougar girls stayed close to home for the holidays, overtaking North Hunterdon, 48-45, to win their own Cougar Classic. Marcia Voigt’s three-pointer with less than 30 seconds to play gave MHS the lead for good. Voigt also made two free throws with less than six seconds to seal the victory. She finished with 12 points, all in the second half as Montgomery improved to 3-0.
”It really validates a lot of hard work and the effort we’ve been putting in,” said MHS coach Kevin Kretschy. “We hadn’t been tested much in the last couple games. This establishes ourselves.
”It shows we can come from behind with less than a minute to play. It shows we can execute. It’s a huge confidence booster for the kids.”
Taylor Zahn pulled down a key late rebound. Carlee Rosenthal led the Cougars with a career-high 17 points. She delivered a 5-for-6 performance from three-point range.
”It was great for her confidence,” Kretschy said. “I know she can shoot and her teammates know she can shoot. She’s getting more confidence. The girls were looking for her most of the second half. After she hit the first one, they kept looking for her.”
MHS trailed by six at the half, but responded after halftime to capture their own championship.
”They focused in,” said Kretschy, whose Cougars play at Hopewell on Saturday. “Our defense was much better. Our execution on offense was much better. It allowed us to come back.”
The WW-P South boys both traveled to the Southern part of the state, but came away with the same result as the Montgomery girls, winning a pair of games to capture the Boardwalk Cup bracket of the Boardwalk Basketball Classic in Wildwood.
After opening with a win over previously-unbeaten Pleasantville, the Pirates topped defending South Jersey Group III champion Timber Creek in the final, 45-44. Jack Dennehy made the winning layup with 10 seconds left and the Pirates rallied from eight down to start the fourth quarter for the win.
Dan Block finished with 15 points and eight rebounds in the final to earn tournament Most Valuable Player honors. The Pirates were able to overcome a poor shooting day by two of their top scorers — Dennehy and Austin Witter — and still pulled the game out.
”That is how it has been for us so far this year,” said South coach Bob Schurtz, whose team improved to 3-0. “Jack hit a couple jump shots early, but the layup at the end was his first basket since the first quarter. On a day when he is 3-for-12 and Austin is 2-for-10, we still find guys to step up and ways to beat teams.”
It certainly helped that the Pirates took care of the ball and made their foul shots down the stretch.
”(Chris Johnson) did a very good job of breaking their pressure,” Schurtz said of his point guard. “They used a lot of different pressures on us. It was a very good job by us to recognize them and not turn the ball over. We only had five turnovers in the second half. We had some big possessions late in the game and we made foul shots. We made 11 of 13 in the fourth quarters and they were 0-4.”
In other tournament action involving Packet-area basketball teams, the Hun School girls split a pair of games at the Blue Chip Showcase. Megan Rigous had 16 points and Cyndra Couch added 15 points in the Raiders’ 53-45 loss to Heritage (Va.) on Monday. The Raiders bounced back for a 55-49 win over St. Francis Academy (VA) on Tuesday as Couch led the scoring with 13 points. The win was the 200th of his career for Hun coach Bill Holup.
The West Windsor-Plainsboro North girls fell to Bishop Ahr, 49-39, in the opener of the War of the Worlds Holiday Tournament on Monday despite a game-high 14 points from Erin Egan. The Knights captured the consolation game over South Brunswick, 45-43, on Tuesday as Jenna Greenstein hit a three-pointer as time expired. Greenstein finished with a team-high 14 points.
The West Windsor-Plainsboro South girls lost, 55-41, to host Moorestown in the Moorestown Holiday Tournament opener Monday. Steph Dontas had 13 points, Liz Huttner had 12 and Tory Sharpless added 10 points for the Pirates. Huttner had 16 points to lead the Pirates to a 35-30 comeback win over Haddonfield in the consolation game Tuesday.
The Hun School boys dropped their first two games of the Joe Silver Holiday Tournament. R.J. Griffin had 23 points in a 63-58 overtime loss to Lincoln on Saturday. Myles Melville led the Raiders with 19 points in a 71-61 loss to Cardinal McCarrick on Sunday. On Tuesday, the Raiders salvaged a win in the tournament when they topped host Hillside, 53-49. Griffin had 17 points and Jon Lee added 13 in the win.
The WW-P North boys lost to Haddonfield, 58-56, in the opening round of the J. Michael Tucker Tournament at Bordentown. Darren Allen led the Knights with 20 points in the opening loss. On Tuesday, the Knights lost in the consolation game, 62-55, to Florence.
The Montgomery boys dropped a pair of games at the Len Sepanek Tournament at Ridge. The Cougars opened with a 44-39 loss to Somerville as James Loupos led the way with 21 points. Ryan McCoy led the Cougars with 15 points in a 67-50 loss to Rutgers Prep.
The Princeton boys split a pair of games at the William Allen Tournament in Allentown, Pa. After opening with a 63-58 loss to Springfield-Delco on Monday, the Little Tigers bounced back to defeat host William Allen, 44-43, on Tuesday.
DeQuan Holman had 18 points and Skye Ettin added 11 in the win over William Allen, which is coached by former PHS coach Doug Snyder. Ettin had 16 and Brian Dunlap added 13 in the loss to Springfield-Delco.
The Princeton Day School boys lost all three of their games at the Jack Kuhnert Tournament in Freehold. In the closing seventh place game, the Panthers received 14 points from Joe Rogers in a 59-52 loss to Columbia.

