Rutgers off pace at Big Ten Championships
Unless true freshman John Poznanski was able to pull off a big upset later in the evening, for the second year in a row the Rutgers University wrestling team would not have produced a finalist at the Big Ten Wrestling Championships.
Bidding for a third straight Big Ten title at three different weights in the tournament at Penn State, Rutgers’ Sebastian Rivera came up short in the 141-pound semifinals when he lost an 8-6 thriller to Penn State’s Nick Lee in overtime.
This was a tremendous match that featured a wild scramble at the end of the third period in which Lee just missed a takedown. From there, Lee was awarded a match-winning takedown right before time expired in the first overtime period.
“That was a fun match,” said the second-seeded Lee, who will face Iowa’s Jaydin Eierman in Sunday’s finals at 4 p.m. “I appreciate this match for my opponent too.”
Rivera opened the scoring with a single leg takedown in a first period that ended with the score tied at 3-all. The Rutgers’ wrestler then took the lead with a takedown off an ankle pick, but later in the period gave away a key point for locking hands.
A true freshman out of Colonia High School and an NJSIAA state champion last year, Poznanski was to have wrestled Penn State’s Aaron Brooks in the semifinals later in the evening. The undefeated Brooks has been ranked No. 1 in the country all year.
Ranked third in the country and the No. 3 seed,
Rivera earlier in the day cruised into the semifinals by pinning Dominic Dentino of Wisconsin in a quick 39 seconds and then posting a comfortable 6-1 decision against Cayden Rooks of Indiana.
Poznanski, meanwhile, started his day with a 7-1 victory over Jaden Bullock of Michigan and then really opened some eyes by pinning Owen Webster of Minnesota late in the second period of the quarterfinals.
Other highlights from the first round for Rutgers found Dylan Shawver posting a 6-5 decision over fourth-seeded Patrick Mckee of Minnesota at 125 pounds. Shawyer then lost by technical fall to Rayvon Foley of Michigan State.
Jackson Turley of Rutgers won his opener when he posted an 8-0 victory over Drew Hughes of Michigan State at 174 pounds. Although he lost his next bout in the quarterfinals, Turley continued to show impress when he dropped an 11-9 decision to highly-ranked and second seeded Mikey Labriola of Michigan State.
Rutgers came into this tournament shorthanded. In addition to having no 157-pounder because Robert Kanniard is under coronavirus protocol, the team had a late scratch when highlyranked Sammy Alvarez was withdrawn for undisclosed reasons at 133 pounds. Alvarez is currently ranked No. 6 in the country and his replacement, Shane Metzler, lost his first two bouts.
Rutgers’ Brett Donner (165) lost in the first round of wrestlebacks as well. Also in the first consolation round for Rutgers, heavyweight Christian Colucci won a tight decision and Billy Janzer (197) drew a bye.
EWING >> Jane Beiermeister might not be the leading scorer, or even a starter, but The College of New Jersey women’s basketball team wouldn’t be heading to the conference semifinals without her.
A senior who has been a dedicated and determined program player for four years, Beiermeister together a career day in the Lions’ convincing, 67-47, victory over Stockton on Saturday in the first round of the NAC playoffs on the floor at Packer Hall.
The win sends No. 3 seeded TCNJ (9-0) into next weekend’s semifinals against No. 3 seeded New Jersey City (8-2). The Gothic Knights advanced with a 68-60 win over No. 6 seeded William Paterson. The other semifinal pits No. 1 seeded Montclair State hosting No. 5 seeded Kean.
Beiermeister has done everything asked of her these last four years, whether it be at practice, in the game or just providing leadership on and off the court.
“Jane has been amazing these last four years,” said TCNJ coach Chessie Jackson. “It is so good to see her get the time she deserves.”
Beiermeister only tallied four points, but she had a career-high nine rebounds and three assists.
The senior’s career, though, cannot be measured by statistics. It’s gauged by the way she has done the intangibles to make the program successful. She’s humble, too. “Today was a great team effort,” said Beiermeister. “Everyone contributed. It was a really nice win.”
Shannon Devitt scored 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for her 49th career double-double. Her 10 caroms leave her three shy of tying the all-time record of 962 set by Candy Kaschak in 1984.
“I couldn’t have made it here without all the support my entire career,” said Devitt. “My teammates,
coaches, family, and many more people have helped me. I couldn’t be happier to have all the great experiences along the way.”
Julia Setaro returned to the lineup and poured in 14 points and Elle Cimilluca added seven points and six assists.
“The team this year has great chemistry on and off the court,” said Beiermeister. “it is always easy to stay positive when you are playing with friends.”
During these difficult times, Beiermeister couldn’t help but wonder if the chance to play basketball in the year 2021 was going to happen.
“I am thankful to even have a senior season,” said Beiermeister. “I know a lot of other schools did not compete this year, so I am grateful for every game we get to compete in.”
The Lions have managed to stay focused throughout this unusual season.
“I think our success as a team comes from our highly competitive practices,” said Devitt. “Coach (Jackson) has done a great job with the practice plan each and every day. It seems like our practices are harder than games most of the time. By the time it comes to the game, we are all ready to execute.”
HIGHTSTOWN >> After all the struggles and challenges that came along with New Jersey’s 2021 high school girls’ basketball season, the teams from Notre Dame and Hightstown treated a limited number of socially distanced fans to one of the better games of the year.
With no state tournament and the Colonial Valley Conference’s championship pod experiment behind them, the Irish and Rams prepped for what could be some very interesting Colonial Division clashes in the future on the last possible day to play basketball in 2021 per NJSIAA edict.
Hightstown won the first half, then Notre Dame rallied to win the game, 64-60, with the outcome in doubt until the final seconds.
“Everybody kind of dismissed this season,” Rams 5-foot-8 senior forward Ali McDonough said. “With COVID, we didn’t know how much we were going to be able to do or how often we were going to get to play.”
As it turned out, the Rams, under first-year head coach Jenna Marcus, played the second-most games in the area with 14, tying Hopewell Valley for that distinction. Only Trenton Catholic Academy and Trenton High played the 15 games allowed this season.
The extra time on the court helped Hightstown’s young roster get ready for matchups like they faced yesterday versus the Irish.
Tenth-year head coach James Martinos’ team had to deal with a 10-day pandemic shutdown this season, then had its third-place game with Robbinsville in the CVC Pod A Championship canceled at the last minute Friday because of more pandemic coronavirus concerns. That made his players eager to get back to playing.
“I learned to take in every opportunity I got this season because we had to deal with a lot of challenges,” ND’s 5-6 freshman guard Simone Pintinalli said.
With only two seniors on the floor for both clubs, this was a game for the next generation of players. Pintinalli dropped in a season-high 10 points, including two key 3-point field goals, off the bench.
That was Notre Dame’s second-best output behind 5-11 senior forward Maddie McCauley, who had her best game of the season with 20 points. Junior starting guard Nicole Villalta-Barrantes had nine points, while dealing with the tenacious defense applied by Rams sophomore guard Kyla Glasser-Hyman.
“We knew they had a good point guard and a good shooting guard,” Pintinalli said. “They were playing very good defense, so we had to adjust. We had to fight hard to get back in the game. In the second half, we all played our roles, and I thought we locked them down pretty well.”
The 6-2 Irish needed to do that because 9-5 Hightstown, fresh off winning the CVC Pod B Championship Friday, built a 16-9 lead after one quarter.
The home side still had a 34-26 lead after a follow by 6-3 freshman center Abby Misier with one minute left in the first half, but four quick points by McCauley got the visitors as close as 3430 at the break
With more focus on Hightstown’s backcourt of Glasser-Hyman and sophomore Kelly McAleer in the second half, Notre Dame was able to tie the score, then take the lead midway through the third quarter on three consecutive buckets by McCauley.
But Rams junior guard Izzy Benitez scored 12 of her team-high 14 points in the second half to stay within, 49-47, at the end of three quarters.
Misier’s 13 points and five blocked shots, and Glasser-Hyman’s 12 points and 10 assists, kept the game nip-andtuck until Halle Besler and McCauley each hit 1-of-2 free throws in the final 19 seconds to preserve ND’s win.
“This season was about proving stuff to ourselves, and today we saw that we have the ability to stay in the game with Notre Dame,” Ali McDonough said. “Now we know we can play like this, but we have to be confident in ourselves. We’re all pretty proud of the way we played.”