BY SHAWN LAYTON
Staff Writer
METUCHEN – Despite losing three of its last five games, the Metuchen High School boys basketball team is heading in the right direction as it prepares to play a second time through the Blue Division schedule.
The Bulldogs’ woes began with a loss to Cardinal McCarrick in a barn-burner 80-74. McCarrick’s Vincente Rosario stung the Dogs for 44 points despite harassing defense from Metuchen’s Chris Pisano.
“He (Rosario) was just unstoppable,” Metuchen head coach Rich Stoner said. “I thought Chris did such a good job on him defensively but he still ended up with 44.”
Jon Brown led the Dogs with 22 points in the loss, while teammates Dejuan Miller and Lamar Nichols contributed 15 points apiece.
Metuchen rebounded from the loss to McCarrick with a 57-49 win over Woodbridge with Nichols leading the way with 18 points. Miller chipped in 15 points but rolled his ankle bouncing him from the lineup in the team’s next contest against JFK. Without its leading scorer and rebounder, Metuchen lost another high-scoring affair to JFK by a 76-70 score.
SCOTT PILLING staff Metuchen’s Lamar Nichols fires off a shot over the JFK defense during the Bulldogs’ loss to the Mustangs on Jan. 17 in Iselin. “It was really a track meet,” Stoner said. “JFK plays a very different style and I have to give them a lot of credit. They constantly switch their lineup and feed people in every two minutes. It was so hard to simulate that style in practice and JFK did a nice job of executing.”
With Miller back in the lineup, Metuchen clubbed Spotswood 59-43. Miller’s return paid immediate dividends as he finished the contest with 25 points, 12 boards and five blocks.
“Our three main guys had big games,” Stoner said. “It was nice to have Dejuan back in the lineup and he was pretty eager to get things back on track after the loss to JFK.”
Nichols finished the Spotswood game with 17 points, 12 rebounds, and four steals with Brown posting 14 points and 10 boards.
The Dogs attempt to end the
week with a winning streak came to an end against state powerhouse St. Augustine. The Dogs started well and took an early lead, but the size and depth of St. Augustine proved too much to overcome and Metuchen fell 75-45.
“We came out hot, but they started to pull away late early in the second quarter,” Stoner said. “They are a much bigger team than us and that proved to be the difference. They were up 22 with about two and half minutes to play when I went to the bench. Despite the point differential, I think we played pretty well against them. It was a lot better game than the scored indicates in terms of what were able to do against them.”
Miller led the Dogs in defeat with 18 points and five rebounds with Nichols adding 12 points and five boards.
“Dejuan wasn’t even on and he finished with 18,” Stoner said. “He’s having a big year and he had a solid game against a very good team.”
After opening this week with a tough Blue Division game against Bishop Ahr on Monday, Metuchen will get an opportunity to avenge last week’s loss to JFK at 7 p.m. tomorrow when the Mustangs visit the Dog Pound.
“In all honesty, I think we’re playing a lot better than we did early in the season,” Stoner said. “I think the Edison game was a turning point for us and things started to gel. We have a nice five-game home stretch and we’ll need to take advantage of this stretch and battle the other Blue Division teams.”