By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
The players on the basketball team at The College of New Jersey have certainly benefited from their participation in the Princeton Recreation Men’s Summer Basketball League over the past several years.
Getting together to play over the summer helps the Lions’ players both individually and as a team to get themselves prepared to start their college season. Last year, TCNJ went 16-12 and reached the finals of the NJAC tournament for the first time since 1998.
But as much as it helps the Lions come winter, they’d like to add a new accomplishment to their list this summer – winning a championship in the Princeton league.
“We do well, but we haven’t won it yet,” said Kevin Johnson, a Montgomery High graduate who will be a senior at TCNJ this year. “We hope this is the year. It keeps our skills in tune. It keeps us in shape. It’s not just us doing our individual work. We also want to work on playing together as a team. We’re all together.”
Playing as Majeski Foundation in the summer, the team improved to 3-0 with a 59-50 win over Clarke Insurance on Monday night. Eric Murdock led a balanced scoring attack with 12 points, while Johnson added 10. Majeski Foundation had opened the season with a 50-40 win over King’s Pizzarama and followed that game with a 50-49 win over Ivy Inn last Friday.
Johnson came off the bench and played 23 games for TCNJ last year. He averaged 3.6 points a game and hopes to have a bigger role for the Lions this year. He’s playing with confidence this summer and hoping it carries over to the start of the regular season.
“There are still things I have to personally improve on,” Johnson said. “Team-wise, I have been happy. Last year we made it to the conference finals.”
After playing at Montgomery High, Johnson started his college career at Centenary College, where he spent one year with the basketball team. Johnson attended York College for a year but did not play basketball. He has spent the last two years at TCNJ.”
Like most players from Montgomery, he got his start at the Grundy Hoop Academy.
“I think I went there three years in a row in sixth, seventh and eighth grade,” Johnson said. “That was always a fun time and you learned a lot about basketball.”
An accounting major, Johnson hopes a strong final season at TCNJ leads to an opportunity to play professionally somewhere after college. But if not, he’ll have his degree to fall back on.
“If I get an opportunity to play somewhere else, I’ll do that,” Johnson said. “If not, then I will stick with accounting and see where that takes me. I have to work on some things, but if all goes well that is what I would like to do.”
For now, he’s working on making this summer a successful one for himself and his TCNJ teammates.
On Wedbesday night, Rogues Gallery topped Clarke Insurance, 48-41, as Nick Santaluccia led the way with 15 points and Jeff Dzierzawiec added 14. Jordan Wright had 10 points in the loss. Terrence Bailey scored 12 points to lead King’s Pizzarama to 44-35 win over Ivy Inn. Skye Ettin had 17 points in the loss. Krasna Hoops Training topped Pediatric Therapy Solutions, 66-43, as Zach Sibel scored 14 points and Matt Margolis added 12. Nick Brackett had 12 points and Bert McCallum added 11 in the loss.
In other games on Monday night, Sibel scored 14 points and Chase Kumar added 11 as Krasna Hoops Academy topped Rogue’s Gallery, 57-51. Santaluccia had 17 points and Dzierzawiec added 14 in the loss. King’s Pizzarama topped Dr. Palmer, 53-50, as Bailey scored 20 points and Ryan Johnson added 13. Kurt Simmons had 11 points, while Cliff Pollard and Adriano DiDonato added 10 apiece in the loss.
Last Friday night, Clarke Insurance topped Pediatric Therapy Solutions, 36-29, as Lior Levy scored 16 points and Davon Black added 14. Rogue’s Gallery topped Dr. Palmer, 45-33, as Dzierzawiec led the way with 13 points. Pollard had 12 in the loss.
