Pirates fall in county final, Panthers edged for Prep B title
By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
Both Bob Schurtz and Paris McLean wanted a win. But both coaches also came away from championship game losses full of pride for what their teams had accomplished.
Schurtz’ West Windsor-Plainsboro High South boys basketball team reached the final of the Mercer County Tournament, where the Pirates dropped a 73-66 decision to top-seeded Notre Dame. After getting in an early hole the Pirates kept fighting back but could never quite get the lead.
”There are few teams that show the resolve and the grit that this bunch does,” said Schurtz, whose team was scheduled to face Freehold Township in the opening round of the Central Jersey Group IV tournament on Monday. “That is what makes you so proud as a coach. A lot of times you see that effort to make it look close at the end but it is still a loss. But you like to know that any time you go into battle you have a group of guys that are willing to fight tooth and nail to try to get the win.
”That’s what you can hang your hat on as a coach. You can have a lot of pride in the way the kids represent what you hope they do, and as a person what you want them to be in life. Someone that never backs down from a challenge, someone that accepts responsibility and is accountable for themselves and fights to be successful.”
The Pirates were led by senior guard Bryan Rivers, who scored 22 points and passed Bill Royal to become the school’s all-time leading scorer with 1,400 career points. Zavon Johnson had 17 points, while Tommy Hussong and Jeff Paskewitz added nine points apiece.
”I go into every county tournament looking to go 2-1, that’s a goal,” Schurtz said. “I told the guys we went 3-1 and that is pretty darn good. That’s a goal we can check off. Now, getting a county championship is the next goal on that list for the future and it is still unchecked.”
McLean’s PDS team had a goal of winning a state Prep B championship and fell just short with a 47-45 loss to Pennington in the state final. Neither team ever led by much and the Panthers’ last second shot to tie the game fell just short.
”What a great game,” McLean said. “It had everything you wanted, back and forth play, drama, big shots, big opportunities. It was just two great programs going at it. I coached my first varsity game (for PDS) at Pennington and we were both coming off three- or four-win seasons. Here we are six years later in the same spot with the Prep B finals. Each team has marquee players. Both teams are doing extremely well. And that’s a testament to the way our program has grown and the way that Pennington has grown. . . It is great for the county. It is lot to take in but this one hurts.”
Davon Reed scored 24 points to lead the Panthers in the final game of his standout career. He is part of a senior class that helped bring back the program at PDS to a championship level.
:It has been a great senior class,” McLean said. “I described them on Senior Day as a diverse group in terms of just outward identity and in terms of their interests, their position play, and that diversity. Good teams need to have strong seniors and we had strong senior leadership this season, every last one of them — Alec Jones, Tavante Brittingham, Tom Martino, Davon Reed and BJ Dudeck — right down the line in no particular order because any one of them could step up and they know our motto — you don’t have to be a captain to be a leader, anybody can be a leader.”