Vikings derailed by East Brunswick team
Host GMC’s elite team tonight
BY GEORGE ALBANO
Staff Writer

Everything seemed to be going along just nicely for the South Brunswick High School boys basketball team.

The Vikings got off to a 2-0 start in the GMC Red Division and had won four of their first five games. Their only loss came against Philadelphia power Penn Charter High in the opening round of a holiday tournament in Trenton last week. They bounced back after that loss, though, to defeat Notre Dame and Steinart back-to-back to end the 2005 portion of their schedule on a high note.

Yes, everything was going well for South Brunswick.

Unfortunately, 2006 didn’t start off quite as well for the Vikings, who got knocked off by visiting East Brunswick 65-48 Tuesday night.

So instead of heading into Thursday night’s showdown at home against state-ranked and once-beaten St. Joseph’s of Metuchen with a glossy a 5-1 record,

South Brunswick will go into the game 4-2 and hopefully without a hangover from what was probably their worst effort of the season.

“We just played lousy,” a dejected South Brunswick head coach Chris Balent said after the game. “We didn’t play good at all. I felt they outplayed us from the second and third quarter on in almost every aspect. They probably outcoached us in every aspect, too.”

Quite a contrast from the Vikings’ performance in Trenton.

“I thought we played well in the second half of the Notre Dame game and all of the Steinert game,” Balent said. “But tonight, East Brunswick outplayed us. They made their shots. We did not come out ready to play basketball.”

Actually, the first quarter was South Brunswick’s best as the Vikings jumped out to a 16-13 lead. But East Brunswick then outscored its neighbors 19-9 in the second stanza to open up a 32-25 halftime lead and never looked back.

The Bears used a 16-6 advantage in the third period to extend their lead to 48-35 before outscoring the Vikings 17-13 in the final eight minutes to complete the rout and improve their record to 5-2.

John Byrne and Tom Gadziala led East Brunswick with 16 points each, including six points apiece in the pivotal second quarter when the Bears went ahead for good.

Meanwhile, junior forward Devon Young led South Brunswick with 13 points, but no other Viking reached double figures in scoring.

Young has been solid all season so far for the Vikings. In fact, he was the only South Brunswick player named to the all-tournament team in Trenton last week. Corey Kelly, a junior forward/center, has been the team’s only other real consistent performer so far this season, according to Balent.

“It’s early in the season so we’ve got time to improve,” the first-year SBHS coach said. “I’d like to see us improve across the board in every area.”

The only trouble, however, is the Vikings had only one day to get ready for St. Joe’s, which comes in with a 6-1 mark after crushing Edison 64-33 on Tuesday night.

“Right now, they’re probably considered the best team in the county,” Balent said.

Notes...While the South Brunswick boys were being upset by the Bears, the Lady Vikings were making a statement in a battle of the No. 2 and 3 ranked teams in the GMC.

Jess Mastronardi scored a game-high 26 points to lead the Vikings to a 65-53 win, and give the South Brunswick girls (6-0) an early-season edge in the race to the Red Division title.

Facing a 28-25 deficit at the half, the Vikings came out on fire, going on a 25-2 run to jump ahead by as much as 20 points in the fourth quarter. East Brunswick closed to within eight with a 14-2 run of their own, but the Vikings held on with some clutch foul shooting down the stretch. They were 22-for-28 from the line overall.

Alicia Langone added 14 points in the winning effort, while Same Rene controlled the glass with 11 rebounds.