Greg Grippo signs with St. Michael's College.
Greg Grippo signs with St. Michael's College.
Greg Grippo signs with St. Michael's College.
Recent Basketball (B) News
Pennington tops Montclair-Kimberley, moves to Prep B finals
MONTCLAIR — Not wanting their season to end just yet, the Pennington School boys basketball team went out and ensured itself of a shot at retaining its New Jersey Independent Schools Athletic Association Prep B state title when it defeated top-seeded Montclair Kimberley Academy, 63-53, on the road yesterday in the semifinal round.
The fourth-seeded Red Raiders (17-8) will play at second-seededRutgers Prep (17-3) Wednesday in the Prep B state final. The Argonauts defeated sixth-seeded Newark Academy, 65-40, in yesterday’s other semifinal to advance.
After falling out of the Mercer County Tournament (in which it had been two-time defending champions) earlier in the week, Pennington obviously decided that the easiest way to get a chance at defending its state title was to take the lead early against MKA and outscore the Cougars (20-4) in every quarter.
Red Raiders senior guard Chandler Fraser-Pauls had his own designs on staying on top. The Lafayette College-bound product shot 18-for-18 from the foul line to cap a 23 points outing, which topped all scorers. His classmate, Anthony Gaffney, almost kept pace with 20 points, mostly on nine field goals.
Josh Snow led three MKA players in double digits with 15 points.
Rutgers Prep Advances to Prep B Final: RPS (20-3) 65, Newark Academy 40
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Mike Klinger scored 18 points, including two 3-pointers during a 20-0 run in the third quarter as Rutgers Prep pulled away in the semifinals of the Prep B Tournament in Somerset. Matt Rennie had 13 points and 12 rebounds and Greg Grippo added 15 points for Rutgers Prep. Zaire Williams and Ryan McDonald each scored 14 points for Newark Academy.
Rutgers Prep Advances to Somerset County Final: RPS (19-3) 62, Immaculata 55
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By Everett Merrill
Gill St. Bernard’s has survived some tough games, but none as scary as last night’s Somerset County Tournament semifinal against Hillsborough.
Trailing by as many as 13 points in the third quarter, Gill St. Bernard’s, No. 3 in The Star-Ledger Top 20 and the top seed in the tournament, rallied to secure a 73-70, double-overtime victory over a gutsy fourth-seeded Hillsborough at Franklin High.
Gill St. Bernard’s will face Rutgers Prep, a 62-55 winner over Immaculata, in the tournament final Saturday at 3 at Bridegwater-Raritan. The final will be the first between two non-public teams in recent memory. Rutgers Prep last claimed the title in 1983, while Gill St. Bernard’s, which lost in the final last year to Ridge, is will seek its first championship.
Guard Jaren Sina tied the score at 64-64 for Gill St. Bernard’s in the second overtime with a runner, then Michael Hyland hit the first of two free throws to make it 65-64 with 2:34 to play. Dom Hoffman, who was playing with a protective mask to shield a broken nose, scored on a layup to give Gill St. Bernard’s a 67-64 cushion at the two-minute mark.
Hillsborough forward Kenny Gan, who played his best game of the season at both ends, missed two free throws before Hyland added one from the line for a 68-64 Gill St. Bernard’s advantage at 1:39. Gan went right to work on Hoffman, who was held to 10 points, six below his average. The Hillsborough forward made a nice baseline move on him, scoring the basket and drawing Hoffman’s fifth foul to pull his team to within 68-67.
With 34 seconds left, Gan, who finished with 20 points, grabbed a rebound and was fouled, but was unable to convert either free throw. Gill St. Bernard’s sank five of its next six free throws to stay ahead, 73-68.
It hasn’t been an easy ride the last few games for Mergin Sina’s team. Gill St. Bernard’s defeated North Hunterdon by six on Tuesday (61-55) and got by Montgomery, 41-33, in the quarterfinals last week.
“The last 10 days or so have been a grind for us,” Sina said. “It’s very easy to sit back on your heels a little and show up and say you’re going to win. When you go down that deep early in the game, it makes it difficult.
“We were flat. We weren’t making shots and they outplayed us for 3½ quarters. We’ve never been this down deep into the game, but they’re tough kids, they figure out a way to win”
Gill St. Bernard’s finally drew even at 50-50 when Alex Mitola (27 points) launched one of his seven 3-pointers midway through the last quarter. Hillsborough led, 60-58, with 36 seconds to play in regulation on a Steve Hydzik (20 points) free throw, but Jaren Sina, the coach’s son, tied at 64-64 on a drive with 14 seconds to play.
“We played an incredible first half, to hold them to 23 points at halftime, you couldn’t ask for anything more than that,” Hillsborough coach Ian Progin said. “It just wasn’t meant to be for us. The game plan was to make Hoffman a passer and contest Mitola's and Sina’s shot. My team was tremendous today. I’m so proud of them.”
In the earlier semifinal, Rutgers Prep came out shooting from deep early, led by 12 in the second quarter and 10 midway through the third. Immaculata rallied to take the lead briefly late in the third quarter before a three-point play by forward Matt Rennie put Rutgers Prep ahead, 44-42, going into the fourth.
Rennie (15 points, 13 rebounds) had to work for everything he got. Immaculata’s 6-3 Nick Santalucia was constantly muscling him, but Rennie never lost his composure. Santalucia (17 points, 16 rebounds) dominated the offensive boards and Kevin Link's four 3-pointers helped Immaculata tie the game at 46-46 with six minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Joe Kacmarsky drilled a 3-pointer with 5:42 to go to give Rutgers Prep a 49-46 lead it never lost. He finished with 13 and Mike Klinger contributed 15 points.
“"We've been working our whole lives for games like this," Rennie said. "It was a great atmosphere, everyone cheering, close game. That's what you love to play for."
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Mike Klinger and Matt Rennie scored 12 points apiece to lead Rutgers Prep in Somerset. Joe Kacmarsky chipped in 10 points for Rutgers Prep, which has won five straight games.
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Matt Rennie scored nine of his 17 points in the first quarter as Rutgers Prep jumped to a 17-7 lead and never looked back in the first round of the Prep B Tournament in Edison. Joe Kacmarsky had 16 points in the victory. Justen Davis led Wardlaw-Hartridge with 12 points.
SCT Quater-finals: RPS (15-3) 68, Bridgewater 50
- 02/13/2011, 11:53am (EST)
RPS (13-3) 60, Peddie 50
- 02/09/2011, 2:30pm (EST)
RPS (11-3) 84, North Plainfield 37
- 02/05/2011, 11:42am (EST)
RPS (10-3) 66, Hun 74
- 01/30/2011, 12:33am (EST)
Rutgers Prep #2 Seed in Somerset County Tournament
- 01/28/2011, 12:35pm (EST)
Game Shots
Ortelli building Rutgers Prep to
compete with state's best teams
http://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20101216/SPORTS/101216028/Ortelli-building-Rutgers-Prep-to-compete-with-state-s-best-teams
The season hasn't even started and already people are talking about Rutgers Prep trying to be the next St. Patrick or St. Anthony.
Not so fast, says new coach Tim Ortelli, who is anything but new to coaching high school boys basketball.
A highly successful coach at Bridgewater-Raritan for 15 years, Ortelli returns to the sideline after a two-year hiatus. He inherits a very good team from retired coach Tony Mento, but make no mistake, Ortelli is here to take the school to a higher level.
How high, and how soon, remains to be seen. But for now, the teacher at Bridgewater-Raritan is busy trying to make a good team better. Junior center Matt Rennie, who stands 6-foot-8, and junior point guard Mike Klinger are two of the better players in Somerset County. There is more experience and size on a 13-9 club that had no problem putting the ball in the basket last winter.
"The kids are great; they've totally bought into what we're trying to do," he said. "We're trying to get to the next level, to win the Somerset County Tournament championship. There's a tremendous tradition here, and I'll just put my spin on it.
"We're trying to really teach these kids to compete. Don't worry about yourself, worry about the whole, that the whole is better than the parts.
"My style is that I like to get after people. I've always wanted to play a little bit more up-tempo, but in high school you play to the strength of what you have. In college, you can go out and recruit your style of play."
Just like a prep school.
So Ortelli is aware of the perceptions. He knows people are already rooting against him because he can talk to kids or their parents and sell the program — that he's going to become the St. Pat's of Somerset County, that he's going to outgrow Somerset County.
"The perception of what Ortelli's going to do, I can't control," he said. "And I can't worry about it. We've had some kids come visit here since I took this job. I can tell you I didn't initiate conversations with any of them. And I can guarantee you that 80 percent of those people will say that's a bunch of crap."
Rutgers Prep is not all about basketball, of course. Academics always has come first at this school, and the social experience is unique, as it is at most prep schools.
Ortelli left coaching when his wife took an administrative nursing job in Louisville. They sold their home in Bridgewater and initially moved to Kentucky, but Ortelli is back with their two children, one of whom is a basketball player at Bridgewater-Raritan.
"You can't control a crisis, and you can't control opportunity," Ortelli said. "She's a superstar in nursing. She's up here about 20 days a month. It's not easy, but it's working."
He took a job as the Franklin High School coach before this, but that didn't work out and he never started the season. But he wasn't going to stay away from the game.
"It's part of my fabric," he said about the game. "I'm an animated guy, but my wife even said that I'm much more tolerant than I was 10 years ago."
But no less competitive.
"I would play them," he said of St. Patrick and St. Anthony. "I would have no problem playing them, or anyone, as long as we had the talent to do so. You have to have ammunition to go into a competitive situation, because as competitive as I am, Kevin Boyle and Bob Hurley are right there. So, we are aspiring to compete at that level, but I didn't come here to change anything.
"I'm not saying there aren't great public schools. I work at one, and we have kids who go to Harvard. But if you're not happy with the school where you pay taxes, you have to go somewhere. It could be St. Pat's, St. Anthony's, Cardinal McCarrick, Immaculata. I tell parents, 'You can't
not to come take a look. Take a look at what we have to offer.'
Paul Franklin: pfranklin@njpressmedia.com
