The Allentown High School boys’ basketball team came into its contest against Freehold Township High School on Jan. 4 focused on rebounding from its loss to Hamilton High School West the night before.
After the Patriots started the game on a 6-1 surge, Allentown ironed up its full-court press to perfection to slow down Freehold Township and get its offense going in a big way.
Outscoring Freehold Township, 21-7, the rest of the first quarter, the Redbirds continued to roll by scoring a season-high 81 points to defeat the Patriots, 81-59, and improve to 4-2 on the season.
“Everything we didn’t do properly against Hamilton West, we were able to execute well against Freehold Township,” said Allentown coach Walter Kelly. “They’re a well coached team. This was a huge win for us.”
Senior RJ Weise had a big day for the Redbirds, scoring a season-high 27 points in the victory. Weise was on fire from downtown in the third quarter, knocking down four three-pointers to lead Allentown to a commanding 67-51 lead going into the fourth quarter.
The Redbirds recorded five of their seven three-pointers in the third quarter.
Junior Brandon Pfeifer scored 16 of his 19 points in the first half for Allentown.
Allentown had four players in double figures with Tim Mastromarino scoring 14 points and Dante Weise putting in 11 points.
Junior Jayce Schapiro scored a team-high 17 points for Freehold Township, while teammate Joe Lardaro recorded 13 points.
With the loss, Freehold Township, the Group 4 state finalist a season ago, dropped to 4-2 on the season.
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