South boys basketball uses monster game to start streak
By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
The West Windsor-Plainsboro High South boys basketball team made its first win of the season a memorable one.
After eight straight losses, the Pirates broke into the win column last Friday night with a 107-93 overtime win over Steinert. The Pirates connected on 19 three-point shots in the win, which was the first for first-year head coach Mike Sheehan.
”Between the two teams I think we had 33 threes in the game,” Sheehan said. “At one point I said to my assistants and the guys on the bench ‘this is unbelievable.’ Everyone was making contested shot after contested shot. It was a fun game to be a part of. I’m sure we would have felt differently if we didn’t get the result we had at the end.”
The Pirates had a lead for most of the fourth quarter before the Spartans tied the game with a three-point shot of their own with only seconds left. In overtime, WW-P South struck first on a three-point shot by Tommy Hussong and pulled away for the 14-point win.
”Scoring 107 points is something that doesn’t happen very often,” said Hussong, who finished with 26 points in the win. “We’re having a down year, mostly because of our defense, but we’re playing hard the whole game. We still need to work on doing a better job defensively. We know we can put up points on a nightly basis. It was definitely a crazy night. I don’t remember ever playing a team that shot as well as Steinert did.”
The Pirates finished with five players scoring in double figures in the win. Jon Kline led the scoring with 28 points, while Hussong added his 26. Justin Turner scored 18 points, while Danny Borup had 17 and Advaita Kadiyala 12. Borup connected on three shots from three-point range, while the other four double-digit scorers each made four from beyond the arc.
”We have a full team of shooters,” Hussong said. “We don’t have a guy on the team that I think can’t knock down that shot. It’s nice to have different guys who can score and make shots.”
More than anything, the win lifted the spirits of a team that has battled in some tough losses and finally broke through for a win.
”It hasn’t been for lack of effort,” Sheehan said of the early losing streak. “It’s been a tough start. We’ve had so many things down the stretch of games that didn’t go our way. It would have been easy when they forced overtime for our guys to say ‘here we go again.’ But we came out in OT and had a different look. Tommy was knocking down shots and Danny was defending and rebounding like he hadn’t all season. Those are our two senior leaders and they played great.
”I was happy to get the win because I see the work the boys put in. They come to practice and practice hard and do all the right things. We haven’t gotten the results we deserved but it is not for lack of effort. I said to the guys after the game hopefully we can take this and move forward. It was nice to see them smiling and laughing after the game.”
Breaking the 100-point mark was special, as was picking up their first win of the year. But Hussong knows that for the success to continue, he and his teammates need to be more consistent on the defensive end of the floor.
”We have been knocking on the door all year,” said the senior guard, who is averaging a shade over 13 points a game this season. “We’ve had a lot of leads in games where we were playing well and then we struggle to finish and win games. The effort is there and we have the ability.
”Hopefully we can start a streak of wins and play better. We’re starting to play more as a team. It is different this year with a new coach. It is a similar philosophy but we lost a lot of seniors.”
Added Sheehan: “We have been scoring. We have kids that can score. Our challenge is defending for four quarters. We’re working on that every day in practice. I thought that we were defending well the last couple minutes and into overtime. Steinert made shots. We were doing what we were preaching and hopefully that gets us going.”
The first win of the season was certainly one the Pirates will not forget.
”It was just a crazy night,” Hussong said. “We were just answering each other down the stretch with shot after shot.”
The Pirates kept scoring points their next time out when they raced past Lawrence, 70-46, for their second straight win. Borup led the offense with 29 points, while Hussong added 23. There were only three made three-point shots this time out, showing that this group can score from inside and beyond the arc.