Bordentown advances to quarterfinals by crushing Piscataway Tech
BORDENTOWN >> The Bordentown boys basketball team has a message for the rest of the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group II bracket: Get ready to handle the ball.
The seventh-seeded Scotties began what they believe will be an underdog run through the section by full-court pressuring 10th-seeded Piscataway Tech early and racing to a 79-48 victory in Monday’s first round.
Head coach John Myers said he had an epiphany after a recent loss to Collingswood.
“We’re going to pressure you to death, and if you can deal with it, I guess you deal with it,” said Myers, whose will meet either Rumson-Fair Haven or Raritan in Wednesday’s quarterfinals. “But we have to get out like that. We’re too talented, and I did a bad job and I had to make sure that I got back to what it was that made our athletes great.”
Bordentown won the Burlington County Scholastic League Freedom Division title and capped the regular season by beating Williamstown, a Group IV school, for its sixth win in the last nine games. Two of those losses were Wildwood Catholic and Camden Catholic — part of Bordentown’s grueling schedule this season.
But instead of compiling power points for seeding purposes, the Scotties improved and became battle-tested. The program has now won a state tournament game in five straight years under Myers.
“I think we can turn some heads and make some upsets,” said junior guard Jordan Martin, who had a game-high 23 points. “Right now I think we finally all have one goal. That’s great when everybody on the team has one goal and plays as one. Just like our slogan ‘One Team.’ It’s just a great feeling.”
Martin paced Bordentown’s balanced attack with lethal drives in transition, smooth passes and deep jump shots. Gavin Shiver (14 points), Roshon Vankline (12 points) and Christian Burnett (12 points) also finished in double figures.
Shortly after building a 16-3 lead within five minutes, Bordentown went through a dry spell shooting by missing 12 straight field goal attempts. Martin ended that drought with one of his four 3-pointers with 5:25 left in the second quarter to push the Scotties’ lead back to nine.
Then in the final minute of the half, Martin stole the ball near midcourt and slammed a dunk. Piscataway Tech proceeded to heave an air ball, and Martin pushed the tempo and found Shiver on the wing for a 3 to open up a 21-point halftime lead.
“We’ve been here before, playoff games, so we weren’t nervous,” Martin said. “We had to come out with a punch. Normally we start out slow, but it’s playoffs. … Our coach told us to attack the rim and find open shots, so that’s what we did. We got into the seams of the defense where they weren’t paying attention, and we just kicked it out and that brought open shots.”
Myers said he and Martin had a conversation about attacking the basket more after a loss to Burlington City on Jan. 10 in which Martin scored only one point. Since then, the junior has reached at least 12 points in all 16 games. He is on pace to hit 1,000 career points early next season.
Martin also embraced the challenge of guarding Piscataway Tech’s Sergio Rodriguez (27 points per game), who didn’t have a field goal in the first half and ended with a season-low 11 points. Vankline was also a key defender in Bordentown’s backcourt.
“He’s so crazy competitive,” Myers said of Martin, who has four game-winning shots this season. “He’s a flat-out stud. The thing that I admire about him immensely is he’s never afraid of the moment. And what I mean by that is, he’s never afraid to take the big shot. Even if I get on his case, he’s never afraid to take the moment.”
As a team, Bordentown limited Piscataway Tech to 16-of47 shooting from the field and forced 21 turnovers.
Big man Abdul Momah led the Greater Middlesex Conference team with 17 points. Bordentown’s interior defense suffered when Burnett went to the bench with two fouls in the first half, but the senior returned with a vengeance in the second half.
PISCATAWAY TECH (48)
Smith 2-0-5, Deuffi 2-0-5, Momah 8-1-17, Rodriguez 3-4-11, Rosario 2-0-4, Mendez 3-0-6. Totals — 20-5-48.
BORDENTOWN (79)
Martin 8-3-23, Vankline 6-0-12, Burnett 5-2-12, Shiver 6-1-14, Urena 2-2-7, Gil 2-0-5, Moore 1-0-2, Kennedy 1-0-2, Parrish 1-0-2.
Totals — 32-8-79.
Piscataway Tech (17-10) 6 16 13 11 — 48 Bordentown (14-11) 16 27 23 13 — 79 3-point goals — Smith, Deuffi, Rodriguez (PT), Martin 4, Shiver, Urena, Gil (B).